Ardor
by SanseiAme
Summary: When Lucy gets kicked out of her apartment, her best option is to temporarily move in with Natsu and Happy until she finds another place. But when all of their pent-up feelings reach the surface, their lives take a sudden turn. And it certainly doesn't take very long for everything to change.
1. Moving In

Chapter I: Moving In

**Author's Note: holy crap, you guys. I'm so, so, ****_so_**** sorry for being gone for so long. School's been a real pain in the ass, but since it's summer right now, I don't have a good excuse for putting off my writing this long. But I'm back now, and hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this one. I really wanted to get this up before later today, because I'm going to Japan until August fifth. I really can't explain how excited I am for Japan. We're staying in a nice hotel in Tokyo, and then we're taking the bullet train to Kyoto. I'm so ecstatic! But I'm not sure if I'll be able to update until we get back, so don't get your hopes up.**

**And as for updates for TBL, I wouldn't get my hopes up for me finishing it either. I really didn't have a specific ending in mind for it, so... I think I'm just going to change its status from "in progress" to "complete," because I don't see myself working on it anytime soon. (Please don't hate me.)**

**Anyway, this was written by me and one of my close friends. I posted it a while ago, but I took it down to rewrite it. I hope it's better than it was before, but I'll let you tell me that yourself! Please leave a review. And as always, no flames, please and thank you.**

* * *

Natsu had always liked summer. He liked the warmth, the sun, the blue sky, and the overall perfect weather. His name literally meant "summer" after all. Why wouldn't he like this season? He also liked summer because of Lucy's birthday. Despite how hard it was to shop for her, he loved celebrating another year of her precious life.

In fact, he was on his way to her house right now to wish her a happy twentieth birthday. He felt kind of bad for not getting her a present until the last minute - again - so he sent Happy out to get something for her while he went to "distract" her. He really hoped she wasn't in a greedy mood today. Lucy really loved presents, and she nearly beheaded him when he forgot to get her a present for Christmas, and she made sure he'd never hear the end of it.

Natsu had a slight spring in his step as he turned the corner onto Strawberry Street, smiling to himself. He always got strangely excited while on his way to see his favorite blonde. He wasn't quite sure why, but he never really put much thought into it. His smile broadened into a toothy grin as he saw her apartment come into view, taking longer strides. As always, he walked passed the door completely and stopped in front of her bedroom window instead. He opened it and peeked inside, looking around.

"Luce?" he called, slipping into her apartment and closing her window behind him. He waited for a response, tilting his head in confusion when he didn't hear anything. He sniffed the air. Lucy was definitely here. But the shower wasn't on, and he didn't smell her peppermint bubble bath, so she wasn't in the bathroom. "Lucy, you here?" He walked into the living room. He blinked, frowning when he saw her sitting on the couch, her face buried in her hands as she cried softly.

Natsu frowned deeply. Who dared make his best friend cry? Was he going to have to punch someone's face in again? Kick some other asshole into a brick wall? He growled softly and walked over to her. "Lucy?" he said softly, touching her shoulder. She gasped softly and looked up at him, startled. Her eyes were wet and bloodshot, like she'd been crying for a long time.

"N-Natsu," she whispered, wiping her eyes. "What are you d-doing here?"

He frowned and sat beside her. "I came by to say hi. What's the matter? Why're you crying?" Lucy didn't say anything, sniffling as she pointed to a paper sitting on the coffee table. Natsu blinked at it before picking it up and reading it.

"It was on my door when I came back from my morning jog," she explained softly, looking down at her lap. The dragon slayer blinked as he continued to read it, his eyes widening slightly in disbelief.

"This is an eviction notice, Luce," he muttered. The blonde nodded, sniffling. He looked at her. "Your landlady's really gonna kick you out if you don't come up with seventy thousand Jewels by tomorrow? That's bullshit! She can't do that! You live here!"

"Yes, she can, Natsu," she murmured, looking at him. "I'm only renting this apartment. I don't own it. If I don't pay her seventy thousand Jewels every month, she has to kick me out." The two of them fell into silence. Natsu sighed heavily after a long moment.

"Then where are you gonna stay?" he asked quietly.

"Um... well, I guess I'm going to have to stay at Fairy Hills," she answered sadly.

Natsu blinked. "Fairy Hills?"

She nodded. "Yes. Until I find another apartment, anyway. I mean, if I stay there, then I'll be closer to the guild, I would have to pay more rent than I do now, but... it just seems like the best choice for me right now."

"You can move in with me and Happy," he blurted before he could stop himself. Lucy blinked, tilting her head cutely.

"Eh?" she uttered, surprised that he'd offer something like that. "Live with you?"

The dragon slayer smiled and nodded vehemently. "Yeah! I mean, we practically already live together, so why not?"

Lucy took a moment to consider his proposal, before looking at him uncertainly and shaking her head. "I don't know..."

Natsu pouted. "Oh, come on. Please? It'll be fun! I mean, you won't be as close to the guild as you would be if you lived at Fairy Hills, but if you live with me, it'll be really quiet and secluded, so you'd be able to concentrate on writing your novel. And you wouldn't have to pay for rent or anything!"

Lucy had to admit, she did like the sound of that. She wouldn't have to constantly worry about getting rent money every month, and she'd be able to spend all of the money from jobs on whatever she wanted! That was always a good thing, right? Especially for a girl like her. And she also liked the idea of being able to work on her novel in a quiet place. Of course, no place stays quiet for very long in Natsu's nearby, but that didn't make the idea any less appealing to her.

She sighed in resignation. "Okay. I'll take you up on that offer." She smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you so much, Natsu."

Natsu smiled brightly and returned the hug. "What are best friends for, right?" Lucy smiled as she pulled away to look at him.

"And I'll do anything to make it up to you," she said. "I'll cook, clean, everything."

Natsu chuckled. "Nah, you don't have to do that."

Lucy scoffed, thinking about how messy his house was the last time she paid him a visit. "Oh, but I think I do have to." She blinked when something suddenly occurred to her. "Wait, what about Happy? Will he be okay with me staying with you guys?"

"Happy?" Natsu echoed, lifting an eyebrow. He smiled. "Yeah, of course. Happy loves you! He'll be thrilled!"

She blinked. "Happy loves me?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Duh! Why wouldn't he? He's almost as close to you as he is to me." Lucy smiled softly and nodded, looking away.

"Oh," she mumbled softly. "I didn't know he liked me so much."

Natsu lifted an eyebrow. "Eh? You didn't?"

"Well, I knew he liked me," she said, looking up at him. "But I didn't know he liked me that much." She fell silent, looking at her apartment, frowning slightly. Natsu blinked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Luce?" he said softly. "Are you okay?" She sniffled, her eyes getting glassy. She nodded and wiped her eyes.

"Yeah," she whimpered softly. "I'm okay. It's just..." She trailed off and ran a hand through her hair. "This apartment has so many memories. It's been my home for several years. Even though my apartment in Crocus was nice, it never... held the same significance as this place does." She rubbed her arm, sighing shakily. "I'm just going to miss it."

Natsu sighed and rubbed her back. "I'll miss it too." Lucy sighed and rubbed her face, straightening her back. She looked at him.

"Want to help me pack?" she inquired. Natsu blinked and nodded after a moment, smiling.

"Yeah, sure!" he said enthusiastically, jumping to his feet.

* * *

**Two hours later**

Natsu groaned as he carried five heavy boxes in his arms as they carried them to his house. "Why do you have so much stuff, Luce?" he whined, glancing at her as she walked beside him, carrying a small box of candy. He scoffed. "And why aren't you helping? I'm not your pack mule!"

Lucy looked up at him, popping a piece of chocolate into her mouth. She patted his shoulder. "But I just got my nails done. I don't want to chip one."

Natsu rolled his eyes, groaning softly as he readjusted the boxes in his arms. "You and your nails..."

She scoffed and looked at him. "My nails are delicate, Natsu. They break so easily, and they finally just evened out from the last mission we took. I don't want to risk chipping them again. Besides..." she trailed off, rubbing his back. "You're doing so good, and you're so much stronger than I am."

The dragon slayer huffed. "Well, be that as it may, we could really use Erza's luggage wagon right about now. You have so much stuff..."

"I'm a girl, Natsu. Every girl has a lot of stuff." She fell silent for a moment. She looked at him. "Will there be room for all of it?"

He nodded, looking down at her. "Yeah, sure. We'll probably just have to clean up a little bit."

She looked at him accusingly, narrowing her eyes. "And by 'we,' you mean 'me,' right?"

Natsu chuckled and nodded. "Yup! You know I don't clean."

Lucy sighed in disdain, but couldn't stop herself from smiling. She gently hugged his arm. "Again, thank you for letting me stay with you. It means a lot."

Natsu smiled and nudged her gently. "It's no problem." He walked up the steps to his front door and sighed when he couldn't open it. He looked at her. "Could you, uh..." He nodded toward the door to indicate it. Lucy giggled softly and nodded, reaching forward to turn the doorknob and pushing it open. He smiled as he stepped inside. "Thanks." He carried the boxes into the living room and set them down, sighing in relief. "Holy Mavis..."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh, quit complaining." She closed the door behind her and took a look around his living room. Surprisingly enough, it was cleaner than it was the last time she was here, albeit still pretty messy, like he actually tried putting an effort into keeping it clean. He looked up at her.

"I know it's... pretty messy," he admitted sheepishly. "But Happy and I usually don't have company, so we don't really clean up after ourselves."

"Tell me something I don't know," Lucy sighed, continuing to look around. Natsu shifted on his feet.

"So, uh... make yourself at home. I'm gonna go get the rest of the boxes. Happy should be home soon with your birthday present." Lucy blinked and looked up at him.

"You guys got me a present?" she asked, legitimately surprised.

He blinked. "Uh, yeah. We do every year. Why wouldn't we this time?"

Lucy was silent for a moment, before she shook her head, smiling. "No reason. You guys just usually forget or give it to me several days late. I'm not used to you guys actually being on time."

Natsu laughed. "Well, it's your twentieth birthday, so it's pretty special right?"

She smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah, it is. Thank you, Natsu."

He smiled brightly. "You're welcome. Happy birthday."


	2. Getting Settled

Chapter II: Getting Settled

* * *

When Natsu came back home with the rest of Lucy's boxes, his house was nearly spotless. He froze in his tracks, his eyes slowly scanning over his cleaned living room. His clothes had been picked up, the cushions on his couch had been straightened, the furniture had been dusted, everything had been organized, and he could faintly smell lavender and vanilla. Lucy had been living with him for less than a day and she'd already made herself at home. Not that he really minded. He could actually get used to coming home to a clean house. He set the boxes down next to the others and walked into the kitchen to see Happy washing the dishes and Lucy cleaning the counter, wearing an apron around her waist and a Fairy Tail bandana on her head to hold her hair back. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi, Natsu," she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Did you get everything?"

The dragon slayer smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I did," he replied, leaning against the counter. "Every box."

She smiled. "Thank you. Again. It really means a lot that you would do something like this for me."

Happy snickered, drying off a plate. "He liiiikes you," he sang, looking at them from over his shoulder. Lucy rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless as she turned back to the counter, continuing to scrub it and completely oblivious to the light blush on Natsu's cheeks. He internally scoffed at himself. Why in the world was he blushing? Happy's teased him about liking Lucy countless times before in the past, but it's never really gotten to him like this before. He's never blushed because of it before. Then again, he's never actually lived with Lucy before either.

And to top it off, with the way she was dressed at the moment, she reminded him of a housewife, which made something in his chest swell and make his heart skip a beat.

Natsu moved his gaze to the floor, clearing his throat as his blush darkened a shade or two. Lucy glanced at him, wondering briefly why he was blushing. She decided it best not to say anything on the matter, walking over to the kitchen to wash her hands. "I was going to go grocery shopping after I finished cleaning," she stated, smiling at him. "Is there anything in particular you want for dinner?"

"Fish!" Happy answered automatically, smiling brightly.

"Do you ever eat anything else, Happy?" Lucy asked teasingly, laughing lightly.

"I ate a tuna sandwich earlier today."

"Tuna is a fish, Happy."

"It is?!"

"Uh, yeah. What did you think it was?"

Happy shrugged. "I dunno. I guess that's why I like it so much..." Lucy giggled and rolled her eyes, giving him a gentle pat on the head. She looked at Natsu, smiling.

"And thanks for the bandana."

Natsu lifted an eyebrow, confused. "What?"

She pointed to the Fairy Tail bandana on her head. "The bandana. Happy said you got it for me for my birthday." He blinked, glancing at Happy as he hovered behind Lucy's head, nodding vehemently and giving him a thumb's up, silently telling him to not be stupid and go with it. Natsu's eyes widened slightly as realization hit him and he nodded, smiling at Lucy.

"Oh, yeah, the bandana," he said quickly. "Y-you're welcome. I'm glad you like it." Lucy smiled and nodded.

"I really do. I love it." Before she could stop herself, she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. She pulled away and walked around him, into the living room to pull out a new, clean pair of clothes. She ran into the bathroom, her cheeks aflame. Natsu blinked, stunned. He touched his cheek, his skin tingling where her lips had touched. Happy snickered.

"She liiiikes you," he sang teasingly. Natsu blushed until his cheeks were the same color as his hair, narrowing his eyes at Happy.

"Sh-shut up," he stuttered, embarrassed. Happy giggled, flying in circles over his head.

"Natsu and Lucy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he sang merrily, making Natsu's blush darkened significantly to a deep red. He swatted at Happy.

"Stop it!" he hissed, praying that Lucy didn't hear. When Lucy herself walked back into the room with her purse, he instinctively pulled his scarf up to cover his blush, wrapping his head up so only his eyes and his hair were visible. The blonde blinked at him, lifting an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Natsu? Are you alright?" she asked, concerned. She scoffed slightly, giving him a look. "Were you and Happy being ninjas again?" Natsu chuckled, maybe a little too awkwardly.

"That's funny, Luce," he said, clearing his throat. "So we going grocery shopping or what?" Lucy stared at him, confused as to why he was acting so weird. Why was he covering his face like that? And what was with the awkward laugh? Did she have something on her face?

"Yeah, sure," she said slowly. "Just give me a second." She looked down into her purse, digging through it to find her wallet. Happy hovered behind her, making kissy faces at Natsu, who narrowed his eyes and growled softly. Lucy looked up at him. "What?" He blinked a few times, connecting their gaze. He shook his head, smiling beneath his muffler.

"Nothing."

Lucy frowned slightly and stepped closer to him. "Are you alright? You're acting weird. And why is your scarf wrapped around your head?" The fire mage blinked and tried thinking of something she would believe. Which is something that had gotten progressively harder for him in the two and a half years he'd been friends with her. She almost always knows when he's lying. Which, he supposed, wasn't really all that surprising. She _is_ his best friend, after all. And he's a pretty bad liar to begin with. He didn't like lying, especially not to Lucy. But there was always something he didn't want her to know.

Like the reason he wrapped his scarf around his face was to keep her from seeing his blush, for instance.

"Uh..." he muttered dumbly, rubbing the back of his head. "I, uh... I must be getting sick. Yeah! I'm sick and I don't want you to get sick, so I covered my mouth with my scarf. Heh heh..." He chuckled sheepishly, instantly regretting his answer when he saw the look on Lucy's face. She gave him her "I know you're lying, you idiot" look and sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"Fine," she said firmly. "If you don't wanna tell me, that's fine." She looked at him and pulled his scarf down. "Are you ready to go?"

Natsu swallowed, feeling bad about lying to her. "A-aye..." He cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. Happy snickered softly. Lucy looked at him.

"Are you coming with us, Happy?" she asked. Happy smiled and shook his head.

"Nuh uh. I'll stay here. You two can go without me."

Lucy nodded and grabbed her purse, heaving it onto her shoulder and starting to walk toward the door. "Suit yourself." She looked back at Natsu from over her shoulder. "You coming, dragon breath?" Natsu blinked at the tone in her voice and nodded, quickly walking over to her.

"H-hai..." he stuttered. Happy snickered to himself and shook his head. How neither of them realized that they liked each other was _way_ beyond him. The two of them were so obvious with their infatuation with each other, and everyone with eyes and ears could see that they liked each other. Well... everyone except them. Lucy was the only one in the world that could make Natsu blush until his face was as red as Erza's hair and stutter until he was incoherent.

Happy really loved them. He loved both of them, a lot. But both of them could be really stupid sometimes. Since Lucy was moving in, the blue Exceed was really hoping they realized their feelings for each other soon. It was funny and interesting to see them interact and unintentionally flirt with each other without realizing it, but after a little over two years, and after all the things they've been through, it was starting to get a little sad. Especially when either one of them denied the accusations.

Happy sighed and shook his head as he watched the two of them leave to go to the grocery store. He prayed to Mavis that there would be some progression between them soon.

* * *

The celestial mage and the dragon slayer walked side by side to the supermarket in silence. Natsu was staring at the cobblestone path ahead of them, counting the leaves that blew by, being pulled by the warm July air. He inhaled deeply through his nose, idly analyzing the myriad of smells, before slowly releasing his breath in a long sigh. Lucy looked up at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, touching his shoulder to get his attention. Natsu blinked as he snapped out of his trance, turning his head to look at her.

"Hm?" he hummed, seeming a little aloof. The blonde blinked at his unusual behavior.

"You sighed. You never sigh like that unless something's wrong."

Natsu lifted an eyebrow, putting his hands in his pockets. "That's not true."

"Yes, it is," she scoffed. "I've been your best friend for two and a half years. I know when something's wrong. So spill."

The dragon slayer blinked a few times as he held her gaze, her piercing chocolate brown eyes staring like daggers into his soul. Her eyes had always entranced him, held him captive and chained against a wall. He never really understood why, though. He knew she had pretty eyes, as did many of his female friends. Lisanna definitely had pretty eyes, as did her sister Mirajane, and Juvia, Cana, even Erza. They all had pretty eyes, but none of them captivated him like Lucy's did. It wasn't like he had never seen brown eyes before. Erza, Wendy and Carla had brown eyes too. But none of them were _as_ brown as Lucy's. Hers were like smooth, melted chocolate, and he could just stare at them all day if she were to let him.

Natsu shook his head, mentally cursing himself and his short attention span. It was so easy for his mind to go off topic sometimes. He supposed Lucy was right when she told him he had the attention span of a goldfish, despite his initial annoyance.

"Nothing's wrong," he answered finally, kicking away a stray pebble that lay in his path. "Just thinking." He had to do a double take when she heard Lucy snickering. He looked at her with a small pout. "What?"

"N-nothing," she gasped between giggles, waving her hand dismissively. "It's just a bit dangerous."

Natsu lifted an eyebrow, confused. "Dangerous? What is?"

She giggled and looked up at him. "You thinking." The dragon slayer pouted and gave her a gentle yet playful shove.

"Shut up," he whined. "Just because I'm thinking doesn't mean the world's gonna end."

Lucy laughed lightheartedly. "Be that as it may, it's still weird. It's rare for you to actually think. What are you thinking about?"

Natsu huffed and looked away from her, pouting and sending a lighthearted glare at the cobblestone path ahead of them. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Nothing in particular. Just thinking. Can't I think? Is it a crime for me to just think about things?"

"Well, meow," she laughed, making a scratching gesture with her hand. "Retract the claws, Natsu. I was just curious." They walked in comfortable silence for a moment before she looked at him. "Was there anything in particular you wanted for dinner tonight? You never gave me an answer earlier."

The dragon slayer straightened up at the mention of food, whipping his head around to look at her. His pupils dilated. "Dinner?" he echoed dumbly. "You're making dinner?"

Lucy blinked and took a step away from him, lifting an eyebrow at his sudden, albeit expected, reaction. "Yes. I live with you now. And I don't trust you to use an oven, even if it's your own. Remember the time you nearly burnt my apartment to the ground?"

"Hey, that was an accident. Happy made me sneeze!"

"Nonetheless, you still caught half my kitchen on fire! Learn to cover your mouth when you sneeze, sicko. Now answer my question. Is there anything in particular you wanted for dinner?" The dragon slayer took a moment to really think about the answer, humming softly as he pretended to stroke the beard he didn't have, making Lucy utter a soft giggle. He could be such a goof sometimes. Which, she had to admit, was one of her favorite things about him. Despite not having a filter, which prevents him from picking up on social cues, he was a master at making her laugh. Even though he was dense, sometimes an idiot, he was actually pretty witty and clever, able to think of a snarky response on the spot.

Lucy sometimes liked to describe him as a very "hot and cold" kind of guy. He could be fierce and ruthless one second, and then sweet and bubbly the next. He could never stay mad at anyone, especially his friends. He was the happiest, kindest man in Magnolia, maybe even in the kingdom. And Lucy knew she was more than lucky to call him her best friend.

Lost in her thoughts, the blonde hadn't noticed that Natsu had made a decision and turned to tell her. He blinked when she didn't respond, waving his hand in front of her face. "Yoo-hoo," he sang, trying to get her attention. "Earthland to Lucy. Come in, Lucy."

Lucy blinked and blushed when she realized she had been staring openly at him, which has happened a lot recently, much to her embarrassment. She would just fall into a trance as she looked at him, subconsciously checking him out until someone snapped her out of her stupor.

She cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to force the extensive thoughts of her best friend. "S-sorry," she muttered, attempting to ignore the obvious blush on her cheeks as she looked up at him. "What did you say?"

Natsu lifted an eyebrow, studying her face for a moment. "Um... I said as long as there's meat in it, I'll be fine." Typical. Lucy should have expected that answer. Natsu was definitely the son of a dragon. His mouth starts to water just at the mention of meat. He would eat it raw if he could, which is a thought that makes Lucy want to hurl.

"I suppose I should have expected that," she sighed with a smile, walking into the supermarket. "All you eat is meat and fire."

"I am a dragon slayer, y'know," he stated matter-of-factly, an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she giggled, rolling her eyes. He never missed an opportunity to brag about himself.

* * *

"Happy, we're home," Lucy sang as she and Natsu walked into the house, carrying grocery bags into the kitchen. Happy smiled brightly and flew over to them, nuzzling against Lucy's cheek before sitting atop Natsu's head.

"You guys were gone _forever_!" he exclaimed dramatically.

"Happy, we were gone for an hour," Natsu corrected, chuckling as he set the bags down on the kitchen counter. "Besides, it's not like we made you stay. You didn't want to come with us, remember?"

"Natsu has a point, Happy," Lucy concurred, putting the groceries away. She smiled as she reached into a bag, pulling out a fish and handing it to the small Exceed. "But we got you this. Is it enough to make up for being gone so long?" Happy grinned widely and leapt into the air, taking the fish and sitting down to enjoy it.

"Aye, sir!" he chimed, starting to munch on his fish. Lucy giggled and stroked the feline's head. Once all the groceries were put away, she looked at Natsu.

"I'm going to take a quick shower before I start dinner," she said, starting toward the bathroom. "It shouldn't take too long."

Natsu scoffed, folding his arms and rolling his eyes. "Oh, whatever," he muttered under his breath. "I've heard that before." Lucy lifted an eyebrow and turned to him, giving him her infamous glare.

"What?"

The dragon slayer blinked and sweatdropped at the sight of her glare. "Uh... n-nothing."

"That's what I thought." She walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Natsu exhaled slowly, leaning against the counter. He glanced at Happy.

"She scares me sometimes."

"Aye."

Natsu sighed slowly as he laid down on the couch, his stomach growling loudly as he waited to Lucy to be done with her shower. _Pfft. "It shouldn't take too long" my ass_, he thought to himself, scowling. _That weirdo takes hour long showers..._

"Natsu?" Lucy called from the bathroom. He blinked and sat up, looking at the bathroom door, which was open just a crack so Lucy could talk to him.

"Yeah?"

"Could you bring me a towel? I forgot to grab one."

Natsu blinked, processing what she asked. "Uh... yeah. I'll get you one." He cleared his throat and stood up, walking to the closet beside the bathroom and pulling out a clean towel, reaching his hand through the door to hand it to her. "Here."

Lucy smiled and took the towel. "Thank you." She closed the door, causing the delicious smells of her shampoo to waft out and into Natsu's nose. He swallowed and blushed lightly, turning on his heel to walk back into the kitchen, trying to ignore the fact that he'd caught a glimpse of her naked through the mirror.

* * *

**Author's Note: holy Mavis, you guys. I'm so sorry for the slow update. I don't even have a good excuse, and I'm sorry. But now that I actually have the story going, hopefully I'll be able to update quicker. If you hadn't noticed, I changed the rating from M to T, because I wanted to keep it appropriate. So sorry to those who were expecting some lemons xD. And I'm sorry if this chapter's a bit choppy. It took me forever to actually write it. I would write a couple of sentences, wait a few weeks before another few sentences, etc.**

**Anyway, leave a review. As always, no flames. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to every one of my lovely followers :)**


	3. Something?

Chapter III: Something?

* * *

Natsu sat on the couch, unmoving as he pictured his best friend naked in his bathroom against his will, thankful Happy had gone to his room to wait for dinner. He knew he shouldn't be fantasizing about her, of all people, but he couldn't help it. Every time he managed to get his mind off of her, it would somehow just wander right back over to Lucy's slim, curvy, smooth body. He blushed furiously as his mind started coming up with adjectives to describe her, adjectives he didn't even know he knew the meaning of. He didn't understand why he was acting this way. He's seen her naked countless times before, and Gray even said once that the novelty of it had worn off because of how many times he'd seen her naked.

That's why he was so ashamed! He'd seen his best friend naked on several occasions, whether they be on purpose or by accident. But he's never reacted this way before. He shouldn't be thinking about Lucy like this. It was not, by any means, okay. It was okay for him to think about Lisanna like this, or Cana, or Juvia, even Erza or Mirajane. He was a teenage boy, and just because he's never openly discussed what he does in his "free time" doesn't mean he's never done it before. And it's not like he'd ever act on his fantasies, because ew. Lisanna, Mirajane, Erza, and Cana are like sisters to him, and Juvia is Gray's girl, so he would never in a million years lay a hand on her.

But Lucy... Lucy was his best friend. She was completely off limits, wasn't she? What would she do if she knew about the things going on inside his head right now? She'd kill him! Without mercy! It would be a long, slow, painful death.

Natsu suddenly snapped out of his reverie when he felt a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to Earthland with a start. "You ready for dinner, Natsu?" Lucy asked gently, leaning over to look at him. He looked back at her, his obsidian eyes locked on her brown ones as he blinked a few times, staring unintentionally as his thoughts started to wander again. Her eyes were piercing, her skin was so smooth and milky, her hair was so soft and shiny even when it was wet, and her lips were so full and plump and _so_ pink, like they were begging to be kissed.

"Natsu," Lucy called, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion as he stared. But he didn't hear her voice. The only thing that drew his attention was the movement of her lips, pulling his gaze to them, watching them as she said his name again, asking him a question. But instead of answering, he just envisioned what her lips would feel like against his, possibly moving down his jaw and neck. The images caused a lump to form in his throat, which he swallowed hard to get rid of, licking his lips as they suddenly felt uncomfortably dry.

Lucy lifted an eyebrow and waved in front of his face. "Natsu. Hello?" She knocked her knuckles against his head a couple of times. "Anybody in there?"

The dragon slayer finally blinked out of his trance, looking up at her and making eye contact. "Huh?" he muttered dumbly.

"Are you alright?" she inquired with concern, tilting her head. "You've been staring at me with this weird look on your face for the past minute and a half."

He blinked a few times as her words processed in his mind, and when it did, his cheeks flushed to the color of his hair. "I-I was?" he stammered, trying to hide his embarrassment when she nodded in response. "O-oh. Sorry, I didn't realize I was staring."

She eyed him suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. She scoffed lightheartedly as she straightened up and walked into the kitchen. "And you say _I'm_ weird," she muttered softly, knowing all too well that those dragon ears of his could hear her. "You're the weird one. First you were stuttering and fumbling on your words while you covered your face with your scarf, then you said you were thinking, and now you're staring at me with this strange look on your face. You're kinda starting to freak me out."

Natsu ignored the twitch of his eyebrow, chuckling softly. "Yeah, well, I ain't doing it on purpose," he stated with a casual shrug of his shoulders, standing up to follow her into the kitchen. "I've just... had a lot on my mind recently."

The blonde looked at him as she put her hair in a bun, draping her new bandana over her head and tying it tight at the base of her skull to keep any fly-aways from getting in her face while she cooked. "Like what?" she questioned curiously. It was rare for Natsu to 'have a lot on his mind', and she was interested in knowing what could be making him behave the way he has been all day.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "A lot of things, really, but most of it has been you."

The girl froze as she grabbed the bag of potatoes she had bought when they went grocery shopping, a light red blush dusting over her cheeks whilst she turned around to face him. "M-me?" she squeaked, mentally berating herself for stuttering. "What about me?"

Natsu shrugged again. "Just... _you._ Nothing in particular, really." Lucy blushed deeper at his blunt honesty, turning away to hide it from his view. She started washing the potatoes, clearing her throat to try and get rid of the lump. Desperate to try and change the subject, Natsu casually put his hands in his pockets as he walked over to her and hovered behind her, watching her wash the potatoes from over her shoulder. "Anything I can help with?" he asked genuinely.

Lucy scoffed instantly and gently pushed him away with her elbow. "Yeah, right," she huffed. "I'm not letting you anywhere near the food that I'll be eating."

He pretended to pout, nudging her. "Why not?" he whined, reaching over to grab a potato. Lucy smacked his hand, making him retract it with a small yelp.

"Because the last time I let you help me cook, you nearly blew up my apartment. No. You're not helping me."

"Do you not trust me?" he asked, rubbing his hand as he gave her the puppy eyes he knew she could never resist. She pushed his face away, wiping the water off on his cheek.

"I do trust you, with my life. But not when it comes to cooking. You're good at a long of things, Natsu. But cooking is not one of them. Just leave it to me, okay?" She smiled at him.

He smiled back at her. "You think I'm good at things?" he said, his smiled lighting up the room.

"Of course," she giggled, saying it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What things?"

"Well," she began, getting a knife from one of the drawers so she could start peeling the potatoes, "you're an amazing fighter, for one thing. I'm convinced that there's nothing and no one that you can't handle on the battlefield. You've got incredible endurance and durability, strength like I've never seen before. You're definitely the son of a dragon, because that dragon heart of yours is unmistakeable. And, contrary to what we usually say to you, you're not an idiot. Your mind is a steel trap when you want it to be, and you're a quick thinker and a crazy good strategist. And you're an amazing people person, although you kinda suck at picking up on social cues."

Natsu smiled brightly at the back-to-back compliments she just gave him, deciding to ignore that last part. Lucy had never complimented him like that before, and hearing all of those things come out of her mouth made his chest swell with pride. He didn't know that she thought that about him. She accuses him of being a destructive idiot so often, he had been starting to believe that she really thought that, so he was very relieved - and flattered beyond words - to hear that she didn't. Before he could stop himself, he suddenly leaned forward and pressed his lips to her cheek, pulling away just as quickly, looking just as surprised as she did.

He hadn't meant to kiss her. In his head, he decided he was just going to give her a crushing hug and say thank you. Not kiss her. Kissing her never even crossed his mind until a split second before his lips touched her cheek. And now he felt as though he had made a mistake, because her big doe eyes stared unwaveringly into his, and he couldn't read the expression on her face at all. Which really said something, because normally he could read Lucy like an open book. They were best friends after all. But now... he had no idea what she was thinking. And it scared him. He had just opened his mouth to apologize when she suddenly stood on her tip toes and pressed a quick, soft kiss to his lips.

She pulled away with a crimson blush, turning her back to him as she continued to peel the potatoes, trying to will her hands to stop shaking. _What did I just do?!_ she asked herself frantically, forcing her eyes to stay on the potato in her hands and ignore the burning sensation of Natsu's eyes on her and the tingle on her lips. _Why did I kiss him? Of all the things I could have done, why did I have to kiss him? I've only lived with him for less than a day, and I've already made a pass at him. Great. Just great. Now things are going to be awkward between us._ She groaned internally, rolling her eyes at herself.

Natsu stood behind her, his feet nailed to the ground and his expression of surprise frozen on his face as he processed what had just happened. Lucy _kissed_ him. On the _lips_. Had he imagined it? Surely he imagined it, right? There's no way that Lucy would have kissed him on purpose. Right? He snapped out of his thoughts instantly when she turned around to face him. She held a potato out to him and the knife she was using.

"Here," she said softly, her voice cracking slightly. "You can peel the potatoes."

Natsu blinked a few times, looking up at her. "Really?" he uttered. "But... a minute ago, you said that you didn't want me to help."

"I know what I said," Lucy stated, nodding her head. "But I have to start cooking the sausage and cutting the vegetables. Dinner will be done faster if you help. So, you can peel the potatoes." He watched her walk around him and start cutting the fresh onions they got at the market earlier, confused. When she noticed him staring, she looked up at him and waved her hand at him. "Go on. Start peeling." He cleared his throat and nodded, turning his attention to the potatoes.

Lucy sighed as she turned away from him. She hated pretending like the kiss didn't happen, but she was too embarrassed to talk to him about it. She just couldn't stand the feeling of his eyes on the back of her head anymore; it made her feel like she was going to explode from the embarrassment.

She spared the occasional glance over her shoulder at Natsu, looking over at him every other minute or so to watch him for a couple of seconds before turning back to the task at hand. She couldn't stop herself from looking at him. It was as if a force of some kind was making her, forcing her to turn her head toward him. And he noticed. Natsu could sense every time her eyes landed on him. And it was kind of driving him crazy. He knew she had something to say, that she didn't want to avoid the subject of their brief - yet electrifying - kiss. So why wouldn't she just say it?

Well, if she wasn't going to address the subject, then he was.

"So what was that kiss about?" he asked her bluntly, instantly cursing himself for not phrasing that question better. Usually he wouldn't have cared about what he said, but Lucy always chastised him for not thinking before he spoke, so he tried to be extra careful around her. And the second after he said it, he could sense that she was beet red, even though he hadn't turned to face her. She didn't respond for a long, quiet moment, the only noise being the sound of Natsu's knife slicing the skin off of the potato in his hand.

"I-I-I..." Lucy stammered, her eyes glancing rapidly from side to side as she tried to think of a good response. She blinked a few times as she came up with one, clearing her throat to try and get rid of the stutter. "I could ask you the same thing." Natsu paused and lifted an eyebrow, finally turning around to face her.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

She turned to look at him as well. "You kissed me first."

He blinked, his eyes wide. "What? No, I didn't."

She scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. "You so did! You asked me what I thought you were good at, so I told you, and then you kissed me on my cheek!"

Natsu stared unblinkingly at her for a moment before his eyes widened and his cheeks reddened as he remembered that he had, in fact, kissed Lucy's cheek. He cleared his throat, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "O-oh... that's right," he said softly, avoiding her eyes.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him, folding her arms over her chest. "You forgot?" she asked haughtily, sending him her infamous glare, which was nearly scary enough to rival Erza's. The dragon slayer swallowed thickly, feeling a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck.

"K-kinda," he stuttered, his voice coming out a little higher than normal. He cleared his throat, evening out his voice. "I guess the kiss you gave me short circuited my brain." Lucy scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Typical," she huffed, shaking her head as she turned back to the vegetables, picking up the knife to resume where she left off. "You have the attention span of a goldfish." She sighed heavily as she cut the onions. _Serves me right, I suppose. I shouldn't have kissed him. He doesn't have a romantic bone in his body..._

"What makes you say that?"

Lucy froze at the sound of Natsu's voice, her eyes widening as her heart skipped a few beats. Had she said that out loud? She swallowed hard to try and push the lump back down her throat, slowly turning to look at him.

"Wh-what?" she said dumbly, fighting the blush that threatened to bloom on her cheeks.

"You said I don't have a romantic bone in my body. What makes you say that?" Natsu repeated, leaning against the counter as he held her gaze with an iron grip, almost as if he was challenging her. It felt impossible for Lucy to look away. Those expressive charcoal eyes of his held so much emotion and determination that she rarely ever saw outside of the battlefield. And seeing it directed toward her made heat rise to her face and caused her heart to race.

Her mouth mimicked a fish out of water as she tried to think of something to say, but her voice was caught in her throat. She felt her heart start to pound harder as the tension in the room thickened, and she desperately wanted to say something. But every time she tried, she would lose her voice. But Natsu waited patiently for her to speak, his gaze unfaltering.

He knew that she thought he was entirely dense when it came to romance, as did much of the rest of the guild. But just because he was unexperienced didn't mean he was ignorant. He knew what sex was. Granted, he didn't find out until he was fifteen, but that was only because Igneel had used the term "mating" instead of "sex", or "fucking", or "intercourse". He knew they were all related in some way, but he wasn't quite sure how until he had "the talk" with Gildarts, of all people.

Sex aside, he also knew what it took to "whoo" a woman - he'd learned a lot from his talk with Gildarts. He knew that women liked to be pampered, given flowers and other gifts, listened to. He knew the cliche pickup lines, the terminology, the innuendos. He knew what went where during sex, he knew what it meant to "climax", he knew how babies were made. Growing up in Fairy Tail, he knew pretty much everything he needed to know about romance and sex.

He was just curious to know why Lucy thought he didn't.

It felt as if the two of them had stood in the kitchen and stared at each other for an eternity, and neither of them had spoken a word. Natsu visibly started to get restless, his already thin patience wearing thinner the longer they stood there. He couldn't take the silence anymore. If she wasn't going to say anything, then he was going to prove her earlier statement wrong.

Natsu stepped forward and cupped both of her cheeks in his hands, pulling her into a searing, passionate kiss before she could react. She blinked as she froze in his grasp, her face flushing redder than it had ever been in her life. She placed her hands on his chest and gave a weak push, but he stayed firm, not budging an inch. She tried once more even though she felt her resistance fading, her eyes fluttering closed as it diminished completely.

Lucy sighed dreamily as she returned the kiss, her hands moving to his wrists to hold his hands in place against her cheeks, her mind reeling as he sucked softly on her lower lip. He slowly broke the kiss, biting his lip as it tingled. He opened his eyes, which felt surprisingly heavy as he lifted them to connect his gaze with hers. Her chocolate brown orbs were half-lidded and dazed, softly tightening her grip on his wrists as she felt a wave of dizziness. They stood in silence for a minute or two, looking into each other's eyes, both of their pulses racing as time seemed to stand still.

After what felt like forever, Natsu smirked smugly. "Not a romantic bone in my body, eh?" he teased, his voice uncharacteristically soft. Lucy scoffed weakly, shaking her head.

"Shut up, you idiot," she breathed, standing up on her toes to kiss him again, mashing her lips to his. His chest rumbled with a mix of a growl and a purr as he snaked his arms around her waist and held her body firmly against his, lifting her up off the floor a couple of inches. She squeaked at the sudden change, circling her arms around his neck to steady herself and press herself harder into him, sifting her fingers into his hair. The feeling made Natsu shiver softly, tracing her lips with his hot tongue, to which she gladly responded by opening her mouth and granting him entrance.

Their tongues tangled together, wrestling for dominance as he started to blindly lead her to his bedroom. Once she felt the mattress bump the back of her knees, she moved her hands to his chest and gently but firmly pushed him away just enough to break the kiss.

"W-wait," she panted softly, her heart beating frantically beneath her chest and her blood rushing loudly in her ears. Natsu obeyed her request, panting lightly as he tried to catch his breath, his heart beating just as wildly as hers was.

"What's wrong?" he muttered, worried he'd done something wrong. Lucy swallowed thickly, blushing prettily.

"I, um... I've never... done this before," she said slowly, looking down to avoid his eyes.

He blinked a few times in surprise, tilting his head to the side"You haven't?"

She gulped and shook her head as she blushed deeper, clearly embarrassed. "N-no, I haven't." She glanced up at him. "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Well... you're so confident with your body and your 'sex appeal', I just assumed that you had at least a little experience."

She shook her head, looking down at the floor. "O-oh. Well... now you know..."

He gazed at her for a moment before grinning, cupping her chin with unusual gentleness and tilting her head up so he could look her in the eye. "Hey..." he spoke tenderly, "you don't have to feel embarrassed or awkward, okay? Because I haven't done this before either. So... we'll be awkward together. Sound good?" He smiled at her, the irresistible smile of his that could light up the world in the darkest of times, the smile that sends her heart into spasms every time he uses it. She swallowed and returned the smile, nodding her head as she laid back on the bed, gently pulling him down with her.

"Sounds good."

* * *

**Author's Note: oh my god, you guys. I meant to get this up earlier today, but we found a homeless dog this morning and took care of it for a while, and that kinda took time out of my day. And my family's going on vacation tomorrow, so I've been packing for the rest of the day when I wasn't taking care of the dog. And then the first episode of the Sun Village arc aired today, which I'm super psyched for! I'm so glad that filler arc in the anime is finished. I've been dying for the anime to catch up to the manga.**

**Am I the only one who thinks the most recent episode looked really... grey? And dark? Or is that just me?**

**Anyway, I hope this doesn't seem too rushed. I've been trying to get it done for days now. But please review. I love your reviews and support to death. Hopefully it won't take me four months for the next chapter. xD**


	4. About Time

Chapter IV: About Time

**Author's Note: hey, guys! So, here are the answers to the questions that some of you asked me in the reviews: no, the rating will not go up. Natsu and Lucy are two lovestruck teenagers, of course the two of them are going to do certain things to each other, but there will be no lemons or limes in this story. And let me clarify something. Since it's been so long since I've last updated, so many things have happened in the manga. So I'm changing the time period from pre-Tartarus to post-Alvarez. So, assuming everything works out fine by the end of the Alvarez arc, this story takes place about two months after the war. So those of you who are not up to date with the manga, I recommend you either turn back now, or deal with the spoilers that may come up from this chapter onward. You've been warned.**

**I'm really glad you guys are liking it so far. Make sure you keep the reviews coming! I love them like crazy, just like how I love all of my lovely followers. You guys are the reason I still write. Also, go check out one of my recent oneshots called "The Winning Shell" if you haven't already. It is, in my opinion, one of my best Nalu stories I've ever written, and it needs a lot more love! :)**

* * *

Happy instantly knew that something was different when he came out of his room, wondering what was taking so long for dinner to be finished. He floated into the kitchen, looking at Natsu and Lucy as they cooked together. Happy blinked. Lucy _never_ let Natsu help with the cooking. He perched on the counter as he watched them, blinking when he saw the blonde slowly glance over her shoulder to look at the dragon slayer, who felt her eyes on him and turned to look at her as well. They held each other's gaze for a moment before smiling and turning away, a light red blush on Lucy's cheeks.

Now something was _definitely_ weird. What was that little glance they just exchanged? And then that... that... _shy_ smile? What was that about? Happy was so confused. He'd never seen these two act this way before. Not in plain sight, anyway. He didn't think they even noticed that he was now in the room with them, because neither of them said hi or even sent a friendly smile his way.

The only thing they noticed was each other.

Happy's eyes widened in sudden realization. He knew why they were acting so weird now! Something had happened between them, hadn't it? They were acting exactly like how Bisca and Alzack acted before they got together. The sideways glances, the secretive smiles, the light but distinguishable blushes. He knew all the signs too well. Something had happened, whether it was a kiss, or possibly something more.

Happy listened as Lucy hummed merrily while she put the sliced vegetables into the pot of water she'd set up on the stove. "Natsu," she almost sang, glancing over her shoulder at him. "How are the potatoes coming?"

"Good," Natsu assured, mashing the softened potatoes. "Almost done with them."

She nodded, turning to face him directly. "Good. Let me see..." She stood beside him, dipping her finger into the potatoes and lifting some up to her mouth, tasting them. She smiled and looked at him, nodding. "They're perfect, Natsu."

He returned the smile, flashing his iconic, cheeky grin. "It's because you're such a good teacher," he said softly, almost as if he was _flirting_ with her, the thought causing Happy's eyes to widen to the point of practically popping out of their sockets. He listened intently to Lucy's shy giggle as she gave him a light push, her hand lingering on his shoulder as she turned to go back to her station. She caught sight of Happy through the corner of her eye and she looked up at him, the surprise nearly causing her spirit to leap from her skin. Her cheeks flushed as she uttered a small '_eep!'_, her eyes staring at the blue feline unwaveringly.

"H-Happy," she stammered, mentally trying to figure out if he'd been there long. She smiled at him. "D-d-dinner should be ready soon."

Happy narrowed his eyes at them, glancing back and forth between Lucy and Natsu, who had also turned his attention to him. "Why are you guys acting so weird?" he asked bluntly, making both teenagers blink in confusion.

"Eh?" Natsu uttered, cocking his head to the side slightly. "What do you mean, little buddy? Weird how?"

"You guys keep glancing at each other, and giving each other weird smiles, and touching each other. Why? It's kinda weirding me out." He suddenly smiled widely, his ears perking up. "Did you two kiss?" he sang, only partly teasing. Immediately after his words left his mouth, Lucy's whole face exploded into a deep crimson, steam practically coming out of her ears.

"E-eh?" she sputtered, her voice coming out as a high pitched squeak. "Wh-wh-what would- I-I mean-"

"Sure did!" Natsu chimed, draping his arm over Lucy's shoulders, smiling radiantly. "We actually did _a lot_ more than kiss, though."

"Natsu!" Lucy chastised, aghast he would say something like that so bluntly to his feline companion. Her cheeks were beyond red by this point, more like a vibrant scarlet that was dark enough to rival Erza's hair.

"What?" he chortled, amused by the look on Lucy's face. "We did. What's the point of hiding it?" He nuzzled her affectionately, a sound resonating from his chest that sounded almost like he was purring. The blonde stayed still, utterly embarrassed under Happy's stare, but she couldn't help the silly smile from crawling onto her face as she tried to push him off of her.

"Natsu, stop it," she giggled, giving his shoulders a gentle push. "You're tickling me." Instantly after she said that, she knew it was a mistake. Natsu smirked devilishly as he looked at her.

"Oh? Am I?" he said innocently, contradicting his expression entirely. Before he even gave her a chance to respond, his hands attacked her sides, tickling her heartily. She yelped, laughing hysterically as she tried to escape his reach, but he had her cornered against the wall. There was nowhere for her to run to. She tried to push him away from her, but he didn't budge an inch. Instead, he leaned his head down and buried his face in the junction between her neck and shoulder, playfully nibbling her to tickle her even more.

"Natsu!" she squealed, squirming against him as she fought to get away from him. "Stop it!" The only response she got was a mischievous chuckle as he continued his assault.

Happy watched from across the room, his stare blank. He supposed he should have been happy that they finally got together, considering how pathetic it was starting to get. But seeing them be so openly flirty and playful with each other was a bit disturbing. He didn't know what to think of the situation. Were they playing a prank on him? Tricking him into thinking something had happened between them? Or is it that they have years' worth of pent up feelings, and now they're finally able to express them freely? Happy didn't know for sure, and right now, as he watched the two of them frolic with each other, he wasn't sure if he wanted to stay to find out.

Because what if they _weren't_ playing a prank on him? Would they forget he was there because they were so wrapped up in each other, as they were when he first entered the room? Would they end up... _doing_ something he didn't want to see?

Deciding he didn't want to risk sticking around to find out, he silently fled the room via the window, heading for Wendy and Carla's place, which, as he'd expected, went completely unnoticed by the couple.

* * *

"Do you think the guild's going to freak out?" Lucy asked as she brushed her hair the next morning, she and Natsu getting ready to go to the guild.

"Why would they?" Natsu replied curiously, fastening his sash around his waist. The blonde turned to look at him, giving him an incredulous look.

"Are you serious? They've been dying for us to get together."

"They have? Since when?"

"Since forever, Natsu," she sighed, shaking her head as she put her long hair up in a ponytail. "They've been betting on us getting together since the day I joined the guild. You really didn't know?"

"Nuh uh," he muttered, surprised.

"I have a hard time believing that. You've never heard anyone talking about it?"

"Well..." Natsu started, cupping his chin as he started to think about his previous experiences at the guild considering him and Lucy. "The guys have asked me several times if I was planning on 'sealing the deal' with you. Macao and Wakaba have constantly been pressuring me to just make a move on you for years. Do you think that's related to them putting bets on us?"

Lucy sighed at his innocence. For someone who could actually be really smart on the battlefield, he was pretty horrible at picking up on social cues. Although, she didn't really mind. He was pretty damn cute when she was confused, with the little tilt of his head and the raising of his eyebrow, like a perplexed puppy. She giggled softly at the thought, putting her hand over her mouth to try and stifle it. Natsu blinked when he heard her giggling, turning to look at her with an adorable pout.

"What're you laughing at?" he whined. Lucy giggled and shook her head, placing a sweet kiss to his cheek.

"Nothing, Natsu. Let's go." She rubbed his back and left the room. He pouted and trudged behind her, making her laugh. "Oh, quit pouting, you goof." He huffed and grabbed her wrist, pulling her against him. He held her gaze with an iron grip, his eyes dark and intense. The look made a lump appear in her throat, causing her breath to hitch.

"I don't appreciate being laughed at," he said softly, his voice like gravel.

"I-I-I wasn't laughing at y-you," she murmured, blushing as his voice sent heat to the pit of her stomach.

The dragon slayer lifted an eyebrow and put his hands on her hips, pulling her closer to him. "No?" Lucy swallowed hard to try and get rid of the lump in her throat, silently shaking her head, unable to speak. He gently pressed her up against the wall. "Are you positive?" The blonde nodded shakily, her heart racing and her blood rushing in her ears. She could feel her knees starting to go weak as he slowly leaned closer to her, his eyes never wavering from hers. A mere second before their lips would have touched, Happy flew in through the window.

"Natsu, Lucy, I'm back!" he announced, blinking a few times as he stared at them. Lucy blushed furiously as instinctively planted a hand against Natsu's face and pushed him away.

"H-Happy!" she exclaimed, blushing from head to toe. "Welcome h-home!" There was a long, pregnant pause as Happy stared blankly at them, knowing he'd interrupted them for a second time in the past twenty-four hours.

"This is gonna become a regular thing now, isn't it?" Happy sighed, his ears and tail drooping. Natsu scoffed softly and folded his arms across his chest, muttering under his breath.

"I hope not."

* * *

"Well, it's about _damn _time!" Cana shouted after Natsu and Lucy had told the guild the news. She stood up and started walking around the guild hall, holding out her hands. "Everyone that thought they wouldn't get together, pay up!" People starting groaning in annoyance and handing her several Jewel bills as she passed by.

"So you _were_ betting on us?" Natsu exclaimed, aghast.

"Of course we were!" the card mage laughed. "This shouldn't be news! We haven't been keeping it very secretive!"

"Told you," Lucy muttered to him, blinking when Wendy ran over to them, hugging them both.

"Congratulations!" she chimed, smiling brightly as she pulled away to look at them. "Happy told me and Carla that you two were together, but we thought he was just making assumptions. We didn't know you guys actually _were_ together!"

The questions instantly came pouring in.

"How did it happen?"

"When did it happen?"

"Who made the first move?"

"Did you guys bang?"

"When are you guys getting married?"

"Have you talked about kids?"

Lucy's face flushed dark red, and she felt like she was going to explode from all the embarrassment. No words came out of her mouth, she couldn't even think well enough to come up with any words at the moment. Natsu sensed her discomfort with the subject and squeezed her hand, looking at the rest of the guild.

"Oi!" he bellowed, causing everyone to quiet down. "We've been dating for less than a full day, okay? So could you all just chill out?" He walked over to their usual table, gently pulling Lucy along beside him and sighing as he sat down. "Jeez." Lucy sighed in relief as she sat beside him, leaning against his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," he answered, smiling down at her. Erza looked up from her strawberry cake, smiling at them.

"So it's true?" she asked. "You guys really are together?" Lucy blushed again as she nodded her head, shyly looking down at her lap. Natsu, on the other hand, couldn't stop himself from grinning like a fool as his head bobbed up and down fervently.

"Yup!" he confirmed giddily.

"Well, it's about time," Gray snickered, leaning his chin into his palm. "It was starting to get really pathetic. All the sideways glances, lingering touches, all the blushing. The sexual tension has been so thick lately that not even Gajeel could cut through it." Lucy's eyes went wide, looking up at him instantaneously. Her cheeks flushed to a bright red.

"Have we been that obvious?" she asked incredulously, cutting off Natsu before he could snap back at Gray's comment, steam practically billowing out of her ears.

Both Gray and Erza simultaneously nodded and hummed in confirmation. "Oh, yeah. Definitely." Lucy whined in embarrassment and buried her face in her hands, her entire head steaming now.

Gray chuckled. "Why are you so embarrassed? It's not necessarily a _bad_ thing."

"Gray's right," Erza concurred. "It's a good thing that you guys felt comfortable enough with each other that it just... came naturally to express your feelings to each other, even if it was subconscious." Lucy blinked and peeked at them through her fingers, her heart leaping in her chest when she realized it was true. She always knew that she was close with him, and she always had been. She knew she could trust him with her life. But she never realized that the way she acted toward him just morphed into something similar to instinct.

She felt she could be open with him, so she subconsciously allowed herself to be open with him at all times. She knew she could be herself around him, even though he always teased her about her little, natural quirks. But nevertheless, she knew she could be herself, so she did it without even thinking. She knew she didn't have to hide anything from him, so she didn't. She really did have a very strong bond with him. How it took her this long to realize just _how _close she was with him, she didn't know.

Lucy snapped out of her thoughts when she felt Natsu's warm grip on her hand, causing her to look up at him. He gave her his iconic, cheeky smile, which caused her heart to pound like crazy beneath her chest, like it always did. It blew her mind just how the smallest things that he does could cause her to just melt.

"You okay?" he inquired, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Yeah," replied the blonde, smiling back at him as she laced her fingers with his, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm perfect." Natsu hummed softly in content and kissed her head, stroking the back of her hand. Gray made a face as he watched them be all cuddly, making his body lurch like he was getting ready to vomit. Natsu shot a glare his way, narrowing his eyes.

"Got a problem, snowflake?" he spat.

"Yeah, I do, pyro," Gray snarled. "You two are being so cuddly that it's triggering my gag reflex!"

The dragon slayer stood up, yanking his hand away from Lucy's and nearly causing her to fall over from his sudden movement. "So now you're complaining about me and Lucy being together?"

The ice mage stood up as well, knocking his chair back. "I'm complaining about that stupid grin on your ugly mug! It makes me wanna hurl!"

"Oh, I'll make ya hurl!" Natsu shouted, sending a flaming fist into Gray's jaw and sending him flying off the ground. "Across the room, that is!"

Lucy sighed as she leaned her head against the table, a dark cloud conjuring above her as the two boys got into one of their usual tussles. "Well, that didn't last long," she grumbled.

"What didn't last long, Lucy?" Erza asked, not even acknowledging the fight, too wrapped up in her cake to even care.

"The euphoric feeling of finally being with Natsu," she answered, lifting up her head. "I had a hunch that it wasn't going to last long anyway, because... well, it's Natsu. I knew he was probably going to ruin the moment somehow."

The redhead chuckled. "Oh, give him some slack. You know how he can be."

"I know, I know. And believe me, I love Natsu's eccentric personality." Lucy turned to watch as Natsu and Gray rolled around in a cloud of dust on the floor, a small, affectionate smile crawling onto her face. "It's actually one of his best qualities, in my opinion."

Erza grinned. "I really am happy for you guys. All jokes and bets aside, all of us really were rooting for you, and have been since the beginning."

Lucy blinked a few times and turned her head to face her, her cheeks tinted pink. "Really?"

"Of course," she affirmed, smiling as she took another bite of her cake. Lucy felt her heart give a gentle thump. She hadn't really been particularly worried that her guildmates wouldn't approve of her relationship with Natsu. But it felt really good to know that not only did they approve, they actually _wanted_ them to get together. She was about to thank Erza, but was cut off when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned to look over her shoulder to see Mirajane standing beside her.

"I wanted to say congratulations," sang the barmaid with a radiant smile, sitting down to give Lucy a crushing hug. "I've been wanting you guys to get together for so long!"

"M-Mira," Lucy wheezed, tapping her shoulder. "Ca-can't... breathe..."

Mirajane pulled away, not even hearing what she'd just said. "And, I also wanted to talk to you about a job request that came in this morning. I was going to suggest this to you before I knew that you and Natsu had gotten together, but now that I know you have, it makes this even better!"

"Um... alright," Lucy said slowly, rather confused. "What is it?"

"Well, this is a rather odd request," the she-devil began, pulling out a job flier from the pocket on her dress. "This really rich couple that lives in Clover Town is going out of town for two weeks on their honeymoon, and they want to make sure that their two-month old son is well taken care of while they're gone. They didn't have time to find and hire a babysitter, but they knew they could trust the good people of our guild to stay in their house and take care of their child while they were away."

"A couple wants to hire someone from a wizard guild to take care of their two-month old baby instead of just hiring a babysitter?" Lucy asked slowly, processing the objective of the job as she read over the flier.

"That's the gist of it, yes," Mirajane confirmed, nodding her head.

Lucy's eyes widened as she saw the reward for the job. "These people are going to pay some random person to take care of their two-month-old child for two weeks _five million Jewels?!_ That's insane! What kind of person would do that?"

"I didn't say these people were _good_ people," Mira sighed. She smiled at Lucy. "That's why I wanted to suggest you and Natsu take the job. You two are definitely people the clients can trust, and I know you'll do an excellent job taking care of the little baby. Besides, it could be good practice for... _later._"

"Later?" the stellar mage repeated, her dark brown eyes blinking innocently.

Mira giggled and nodded. "Yes, later. As in... _later_." Lucy stared at her for a long moment as she thought about what the S-Class mage meant. After she got a teasing grin from Mira, realization hit. Her whole face went dark red in an instant whilst she thought about having kids with Natsu, and she was about to refuse. But then she realized that the thought, as embarrassing as it was, didn't seem so bad. She looked down at the flier in her hands, reading it over again, and then one more time before swallowing the massive lump that suddenly appeared in her throat.

"W-Why not?"


	5. Kibou

Chapter V: Kibou

* * *

"This is crazy," Natsu huffed, folding his arms across his chest as he and Lucy walked through Clover Town to their clients' house. "What kind of parents just... ditch their two-month old child for two weeks and doesn't even have the time to hire an actual babysitter?"

"Natsu, I think you're making this a little too personal," Lucy said, rubbing his back. "I don't like the situation either, but think about it. Would you rather us take care of this kid, or would you pass up the job and let someone else take care of the kid? Someone we don't know, someone that the clients can't trust." Natsu was silent as he thought about her words, and he had to admit, she really had a point. Even though he hadn't met them personally, he knew he didn't like the parents. But that didn't mean that the kid didn't deserve someone good to look after him while his parents were away.

"You have a point," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I would rather have this kid in good hands, in our hands." He looked at her and smiled cutely, holding her hand. "Because whose hands could this kid be safer in?"

"There's no one that could keep that kid safer," she giggled, leaning against him.

Natsu chuckled. "That's what I was thinking." He took a deep breath and looked around, admiring the nice houses that lined the street. It was so different in Clover Town than it was in Magnolia. The mountains, lush trees, different types of houses. It really contrasted from the oceanside, the cobblestone paths, the busy streets. It was completely different from what he was used to. It was quiet.

"Too bad Happy said he didn't wanna come with us," he murmured, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out as a slow, long sigh. "This is a nice place. Why don't we come here more often?"

"I'm not sure," Lucy replied, smiling as she looked around. "It _is_ a nice town. We don't really get a lot of requests from here."

"Why do you think that is?" Natsu questioned, looking down at her. Lucy only shrugged as an answer, keeping her attention focused on the addresses of the houses to make sure they didn't pass it. She smiled when they walked up to a large white house with nice, lacquered windows and a beautiful flower garden next to the patio.

"This is it," she announced, going up the steps to the front door. She set her bag down and pulled the job flier out of her pocket, reading over the instructions the clients described. "There should be a key under the doormat. And their assistant is going to come drop off the baby in an hour."

"They're not even here to give us instructions or anything?" Natsu fumed, his eye twitching as he tried to subdue his feelings. "They just left before even making sure that their kid was in good hands?"

"These people just keep sounding better and better, don't they?" Lucy sighed as she kneeled down to grab the key from under the doormat, unlocking the door and stepping inside. Natsu followed her, grabbing her bag and taking it in along with his. He was practically radiating heat.

"They even have an assistant! Why couldn't he babysit? Why did they have to go out of their way to make an official guild request?" The stellar mage exhaled slowly, trying to maintain her composure even though she was almost as irritated as he was. She turned to him and gently grabbed his shoulders, making him face her.

"Natsu, I know you're upset," she began, rubbing his chest. "I am too. This situation sucks. But if we back out now, Mavis knows what'll happen to that kid. Let's just focus on our job and be professional for now, and when it's over, we can hate the bastards all we want. Sound good?" Natsu sighed sharply and crossed his arms, turning his head and glaring holes into the wall. He _really_ didn't like these people. He didn't want to work for them, and he definitely didn't want their money. Although five million Jewels _would_ come in handy, particularly because his savings were running low. But there are better ways for this couple to use money like that.

Like hire a babysitter. Or a nanny. Or any other professional caretaker for _their_ child.

"Fine," he mumbled reluctantly. "I guess I can do that."

Lucy smiled and kissed his cheek. "Good. And besides, this might be a little fun. Taking care of the baby, I mean."

"You think so?"

"I do. I love kids, and don't try and deny it, but I know you do too." She smiled teasingly at him and poked his chest. "I see the way you light up around Asuka." Natsu's eyes widened, his cheeks flushing deep red. He looked away almost shyly and lifted his scarf up over his face.

"Wh-whaddya talking about?" he stammered, staring at the floor.

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about," she giggled, loving how adorable he was when he was shy. "You don't need to be embarrassed. I think it's sweet." She reached up and tenderly pulled his scarf down, kissing him sweetly. She smiled at him and pulled away, turning and scanning over the house. She hummed as she started to explore. "This is... fancy. You can tell these people have a lot of money." She lowered her voice to barely a whisper to try and keep Natsu from hearing, folding her arms. "Apparently, though, not enough to pay for a professional nanny or something."

"Well, what happened to focusing on the job?" Natsu smirked, folding his arms and chuckling, leaning against the wall. "I thought we were supposed to be professional about this."

Lucy huffed and turned to look at him. "You're such a smartass."

He laughed. "So you've said before." He approached her and draped his arm around her. "But you know you love it."

"Oh, whatever," she scoffed as she rolled her eyes, but leaning against him nonetheless. "I _tolerate_ it. Most of the time."

The dragon slayer chuckled. "Yeah, yeah."

They two of them jumped when there was a loud, rather harsh knock on the door. Lucy sighed and walked to the door. "That must be the client with the baby," she mumbled. She opened the door, coming face-to-face with a woman that looked to be in her mid-thirties. She was holding a small child in one arm and a briefcase in the other. She smiled politely at the spirit mage.

"Hello, you must be Lucy from Fairy Tail, right?" she inquired.

"That's me," Lucy chimed, smiling back and holding up her right hand to show the woman her guild emblem. She gestured to the baby. "This must be..." She trailed off, just realizing at that moment that she didn't know his name.

The woman smiled. "Kibou. His name is Kibou. He's a very sweet boy, so you should have nothing to worry about while you're watching him for the next two weeks."

"Well, that's good to know," Natsu noted, grinning as he joined Lucy at the door. "I'm Natsu."

"Right," the woman confirmed. "I thought there were two of you. Well, here you are." She carefully handed Kibou to Lucy before opening her briefcase and taking out a few papers, handing them to Natsu. "I took the liberty to writing down some basic things you can do to ease him if he starts crying, or if you have any questions about him in general. There should be some supplies that you might need in the nursery upstairs. But if you have any other questions that aren't answered in the papers, my office's address is in the papers as well. My name is Shamaya. So you can come to my office if you need something, or there's something that concerns you."

Lucy nodded, swaying with Kibou in her arms. "Okay. Thank you, Shamaya."

Shamaya smiled and nodded politely. "You're welcome. Good luck, you guys. Just come talk to me if you need anything." She turned on her heel and walked down the steps, turning left on the street. Lucy blinked, surprised at her abruptness. She glanced at Natsu, who looked just as surprised. He huffed and closed the door.

"Is everybody that works for this couple insensitive pricks?" he asked rhetorically. Lucy was about to agree with him before she realized what he said. She glared and smacked his arm.

"Hey," she scolded. "There is a child two feet away from you. Please refrain from cussing."

"He's two months old, Luce," he stated obviously. "It's not like he knows what I'm saying or that he's going to... repeat... it..." He trailed off, paling slightly when Lucy gave him her notorious glare, the one that was scary enough to rival Erza's. He cleared his throat and rubbed his neck, feeling like he was shrinking beneath her stare. There were very few things in this world that could make him feel that way, like he was powerless. Like he was vulnerable. But that glare... That glare did it every time. "O-Okay... I won't cuss around the kid."

"Thank you," she said firmly, giving him one last scare to make sure he stuck to his word. She looked down at Kibou as she continued to sway with him. He was a beautiful child, soft brown hair adorning his hair and partially covering his eyes which were a stunning crystal blue. He curiously looked up at Lucy, sucking on his pacifier, making the cutest little humming noises. Lucy smiled at him and bounced lightly. "Hey, baby boy."

Kibou stared at her with his big, expressive eyes before a hint of a smile appeared around his pacifier. Lucy giggled, speaking in a baby voice. "Hello, cutie." She tickled his tummy, causing him to giggle in the cutest way. She grinned and looked up at Natsu as she continued to sway and bounce. "Let's go see what kind of supplies we have in his nursery," she suggested, already having turned on her heel and headed toward the stairs. The dragon slayer nodded in agreement and followed close behind her, smiling at Kibou as he peered at him from over Lucy's shoulder. He waved at the young child, causing him to smile back.

"He's cute," Natsu mused, chuckling softly.

"Yeah, he is," Lucy concurred, smiling at Kibou as she walked into the nursery. She looked around the room for the basic supplies they needed to take care of a baby. It baffled her that she found hardly anything. There was a single box of diapers next to the changing table, but there were only two left inside. There was one baby bottle sitting in the rocking chair, and next to the crib was a small chest with a measly three toys inside. The sight of how pathetic the nursery was finally made Lucy snap, her last nerve blowing like a fuse.

"This is just _ridiculous!"_ she exclaimed, instantly lowering her voice so she wouldn't scare Kibou. She looked at Natsu, her dark eyes holding a fury he'd only seen a couple of times before. "They call _this_ a nursery? Toys that look like they haven't been moved since they were put there, a single box of diapers that is just about empty, a bottle that looks like it hasn't been cleaned recently, if at all. And I seriously doubt that there is any formula downstairs for Kibou. There aren't even baby wipes with the diapers! I can't _believe_ this!"

"Lucy," Natsu cut in, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You need to calm down." Lucy sighed heavily and held Kibou with one arm, using her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. Natsu rubbed her back. "Just breathe." She did as told, taking several long, deep breaths. After a minute or two of silence, with the exception of the soft sucking sounds coming from Kibou and his pacifier, the blonde looked up at him.

"I'm going to the store to get some of the things we're going to need," she declared.

"Okay," Natsu said slowly, continuing to rub her back. "Do you want me and Kibou to go with you?"

She shook her head. "No, it'll get done faster if it's just me." She started to hand Kibou to him. "Could you take him?" Natsu suddenly got extremely, uncharacteristically nervous, instinctively taking a step back. Lucy blinked in confusion, looking up at him. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," he spluttered, blinking when he heard how high his voice sounded. He cleared his throat, lowering his voice back to normal. He scratched the back of his neck, something he did when he was nervous. "I-It's just... I've never, um... y-y'know..." He gestured vaguely to Kibou, his cheeks painted a light red. Lucy furrowed her brows and looked down at Kibou before looking back up at him, trying to figure out what he meant. Her eyes widened when she realized what he was talking about.

"You mean you've never held a baby before?" she clarified, unable to hold back the affectionate smile. Natsu gulped and nodded silently, looking anywhere but at her. Lucy giggled. "Don't be embarrassed, Natsu. It's not a big deal. It's easy. See how I'm holding him?" The dragon slayer hesitantly looked up at her, watching the way her arms were positioned, one arm resting under Kibou's rear while the other one was placed against his back to make sure he stayed upright and against her shoulder.

"Yeah," he muttered. "Yeah, I see."

"Okay. Position your arms the same way."

Natsu swallowed and nervously did as told, lifting his arms and situating them the way Lucy's were. "L-Like this?"

"Just like that," she approved, smiling warmly. "I'm going to give him to you now, okay?" Natsu nodded without saying anything. She giggled. "Okay." She carefully handed Kibou to him. Natsu released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, staring at the ceiling as she put him in his arms. He cleared his throat and shakily looked down at the child, standing like a statue, afraid he was going to hurt him somehow is he moved. Lucy laughed softly. "Natsu, loosen up. He won't bite you." She gently adjusted his stance to make it feel more natural instead of stiff.

"I just don't want to hurt him," he mumbled, unable to look away from Kibou's brilliant blue eyes. It was crazy how blue they were, even bluer than Mira's. And they were so... expressive. Like he was looking directly into the little child's soul. Lucy grinned at seeing the soft expression on his face, a look of tenderness that was very rare to see the hotheaded, temperamental dragon slayer wear. Her heart thumped hard inside her chest at seeing him look at a baby like that, and she swore her ovaries skipped a beat along with her heart, making her blush furiously, her hair steaming. She rubbed his back, hoping he was too focused on Kibou to notice her face.

"You won't hurt him, Natsu," she assured, patting his back as she grabbed her purse. "I'll be back in thirty minutes." Natsu suddenly snapped back to reality and turned to face her, his eyes wide and scared.

"Y-You're leaving me alone with him?" he stuttered.

She giggled and looked at him. "He's a baby, sweetheart. Not an ex-con. You'll be fine. Besides, he likes you."

"Eh? You think so?"

"Well, look at him." Natsu did as told and looked down at the small child, who was snuggled against his warm chest, his eyes closed as he blissfully suckled on his pacifier and Natsu's shirt fisted slightly in his tiny hand. The fire mage twitched a smile, gently swaying with Kibou.

"I guess he does," he said quietly.

She smiled. "See?" She stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek. "You'll be find. I'll be back in thirty minutes." She smiled and stroked Kibou's hair before turning to the door and leaving. Natsu swallowed thickly once the door shut behind her. He looked down at Kibou, starting slightly when he saw the child's eyes were now open and staring expectantly at him.

"H-Hi," he chuckled awkwardly. "Kibou, right? I'm Natsu." Kibou continued to stare at him, blinking a few times and batting his eyelashes at him. The dragon slayer smiled. "You wouldn't mind... taking it easy on me, would you? I'm kinda new at this. It'd be nice if you could do me this little favor. Think you can do that for me?" Kibou grinned around his pacifier, giggling a bit. Natsu chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes." He glanced upstairs before looking back at him. "You wanna go upstairs and play with some toys? I'm good at playing." Kibou giggled some more, making him laugh as well as he turned on his heel and started to go upstairs. "That sounds like fun to me too."

He stepped into the nursery and sat down on the floor next to the little chest with the toys. He reached into the chest. "Let's see... what do we got in here?" He pulled out a little raggedy stuffed toy that looked like Mato the referee from the Grand Magic Games and furrowed his brows in distaste, looking at Kibou and holding it up to him. "Pumpkin-head guy?" Kibou looked at it and made a face, turning away and burying his face into Natsu's chest, causing him to chuckle. "Yeah, I've never been a fan of him either." He set the toy back down and looked at the other two, not really impressed with them either. He jumped when he heard Kibou whimper, turning his head to look down at him. His eyes widened when he saw that he was on the verge of crying, his bright blue eyes all glassy.

"Hey, kiddo," he said softly, his mouth set in a deep frown. "What's wrong?" Kibou only answered by starting to cry, his pacifier falling out of his small mouth. Natsu frowned deeper, the sound breaking his heart. He stood up with him and bounced gently, attempting to soothe him. "What's the matter, kiddo? You hungry? Need a new diaper?" Not expecting much of an answer, he was thoroughly surprised when Kibou's cries dwindled down into soft whimpers at the mention of a new diaper. Natsu's eyes widened.

_Did he understand me?_ he internally asked himself. _No, he couldn't have. He's too young to have understood what I said._ He watched the child intently as he turned his head to look at the changing table for a moment before turning back to him, looking at him expectantly. _Well... he does seem like he knows what he needs. Guess I have no other choice but to accept that he might. _He approached the changing table and carefully lowered him onto it, laying him on his back. He kneeled down to grab a diaper from the box, eyeing it warily as he stood back up. He swallowed thickly and looked at Kibou with an uncertain gaze.

"You don't happen to know how to change a diaper, do you?" he asked anxiously. Kibou only watched him, pulling the collar of his shirt up so he could suck on it. Natsu sighed, his shoulders drooping. "No, huh? This'll be interesting, then." He set the diaper down and carefully pulled off Kibou's pants, setting them to the side. He hesitantly started to remove his diaper, trying to memorize how he was doing it so he could do it backwards to put the clean one on. When he pulled it off, he exhaled in relief to see that he'd only gone number one instead of number two. He looked for something he could throw the diaper away in, smiling when he found one. After disposing of it, he turned back to Kibou, realization hitting him like a train.

They didn't have any wipes.

Natsu started to look around the nursery, praying to Mavis he could find some. He glanced at Kibou. "Do you know where the wipes are?" he inquired, pouting when Kibou just stared at him, watching him curiously. He continued to look around, relief washing over him when he happened to find a box of wipes. He walked back over to the changing table as he pulled out the last wipe in the box, groaning in annoyance. He looked up at Kibou. "Your parents really stay on top of supplies, don't they?" He sighed heavily and swallowed, hesitantly starting to wipe him off.

He jumped in surprised when he was suddenly sprayed by warm liquid, unable to do anything but sigh as Kibou proceeded to stain his shirt. Once he'd stopped, Natsu looked at him with a patient smile. "Seriously, dude?" he laughed gently. Kibou giggled back at him, his hands bumping together almost like he was trying to applaud when he'd just done. Natsu chuckled and took off his shirt. "I thought we agreed you were gonna take it easy on me. Peeing on me isn't really taking it easy." Kibou only continued to giggle, his smile practically lighting up the room. The dragon slayer grinned and shook his head with a sigh. "You're lucky you're cute."

After a good ten minutes of trying to figure out how the diaper worked, he managed to put it on properly. He smiled brightly. "I did it!" he exclaimed happily. "I did it!" He gently lifted Kibou up so he could stand on the changing table, angling his head to check how the diaper looked in the back. "It even stays on and everything!" He smiled up at Kibou. "Can I get a high five for my first diaper change?" He held him up with one hand and used the other one to gently high five him. "Yeah. Good thing I'm a fast learner, eh?" He chuckled at Kibou's happy, toothless grin, gently laying him back down so he could put his pants back on.

Natsu looked toward the door and down the hall when he heard the front door open downstairs. He smiled and gasped playfully, looking at Kibou. "You wanna go downstairs and say hi to Lucy?" he said in his cutest baby voice, lifting him up into his arms. The child giggled and leaned into his chest. He chuckled. "Me too."

* * *

**That Night**

"Do you want to feed him?" Lucy inquired as she shook the bottle of formula, looking at Natsu from over her shoulder as he sat on the living room floor in front of Kibou's bouncer, something that she'd bought while she was at the store earlier that day. He was currently making silly faces at Kibou as he bounced up and down, giggling like there was no tomorrow. The blonde smiled softly and leaned against the wall as she watched them play together. The day had been amazing since she got back from the store. Kibou was just the sweetest baby, and Natsu was so good with him. Which wasn't surprising. Natsu was good with every kid he got to interact with. He had a sort of energy that kids just liked. But it wasn't even the end of their first day with the kid, and the two of them already had a bond.

And she loved it.

But as much as she wanted to just sit and watch them play all night, it was getting late. And she wanted to make sure Kibou got his dinner before they put him to bed. So she cleared her throat to get Natsu's attention, which it did. He turned his head to face her, a goofy grin plastered to his face.

"Did ya say something, Luce?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did. I asked if you wanted to feed him."

Natsu's eyes lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. "Yeah!"

Lucy giggled and gestured for him to come to her as she sat on the couch. "Then come here. I'll show you how to feed him." Natsu beamed and stood up, practically leaping over to her and waiting. Lucy giggled. "Natsu, you kinda need him to do this." The dragon's eyes widened in realization, his mouth open in a soft "o." He turned around and kneeled down to lift Kibou up into his arms, walking back to Lucy and sitting beside her, holding him with one arm so he could hold the bottle with the other. The blonde grinned. "Now all you have to do is just hold the bottle out to him so he can start eating."

Natsu did as told and held the bottle close to Kibou's mouth, and he almost instantly accepted it, suckling eagerly. Natsu grinned and looked at Lucy. "Now what?"

"Now just hold it there until he's finished," she instructed, watching Kibou eating with a grin.

"That's it?" he asked, turning his head to watch him as well.

She nodded. "Yup. That's it."

"So I just wait for him to finish the bottle?"

"Or until he pulls away. Whichever comes first. And then you'll have to burp him."

"Burp him?"

"Mm hm. Babies tend to swallow air while they're feeding, so they need to burp or they can get cranky or even spit up. So you'll put a towel on your shoulder and gently but firmly pat his back to get him to burp."

"Ohh."

Lucy giggled and watched him feed Kibou. She loved how eager he was to learn about babies and how to take care of them. Ever since she came back from the store, he'd been asking her questions. Well, after he'd finished gloating about how he'd successfully changed his first diaper without any help, of course. She thought it was adorable how prepared he wanted to be in case she had to leave the two of them alone again. And he really was a fast learned. He picked up on everything so quickly. She just knew that he would be an incredible father one day.

She blushed when the thought of having kids with him popped into her head for the zillionth time that day. This job was already starting to mess with her head. But she had to admit, she didn't really care by this point. The thought of having kids with Natsu excited her, and it made her happy beyond what words could describe. But she couldn't tell him that. They've only barely started going out. She'd definitely scare him away if she'd brought up the subject of them having their own kids one day. And she didn't want that.

So she focused on watching her boyfriend feed a baby for the first time, and she admired how much he was lighting up with delight. She trained her eyes on his face, observing the way he smiled at Kibou, the way his eyes lit up. And before she knew it, he looked up at her and said something, but she missed it considering how deep in thought she'd been.

"What d-did you say?" she squeaked, a light pink blush settled on her cheeks.

"Is there a towel I can use?" he repeated. "Kibou's finished eating." Lucy blinked a few times and looked down at Kibou, who had, in fact, eaten every last drop out of the bottle. She smiled and stood up to go get a towel.

"He sure has an appetite, doesn't he?" she mused, grabbing a little hand towel that was folded next to the sink.

"He sure does," Natsu chuckled, setting the bottle on the coffee table. "He went through that bottle like it was his last meal." Lucy giggled and sat back beside him, setting the towel over his shoulder.

"Alright, now just position him on your shoulder, like this," she told him, showing him how to position Kibou correctly. "And now just gently but firmly pat his back." Natsu did as told, patting Kibou's back.

"How long do I do this for?" he questioned curiously, looking at her.

She smiled. "As long as it takes for him to burp." They sat there in comfortable silence for several minutes while Natsu continuously patted his back until he burped. Lucy smiled and used the towel to gently wipe his mouth. "There we go. All done." She removed the towel and stood up to take it into the laundry room. Natsu smiled and looked at Kibou, rubbing his back.

"Was that some good food?" The only response he got from Kibou was a long yawn, his eyes blinking sleepily. Natsu chuckled softly and stood up, looking at Lucy as she came back into the room. "I think someone's ready for bed."

Lucy giggled softly and approached them. "Oh, yeah?" She looked at Kibou and gently brushed his bangs away from his eyes. "Are you sleepy, baby boy?" Kibou yawned again, leaning into Natsu's shoulder. She giggled lightly, smiling softly and stroking his hair, looking up at Natsu. "Let's get him to bed."

The dragon slayer nodded and started heading upstairs with Lucy following close behind him. After changing him into his pajamas, Lucy carefully lowered him down into the crib and covered him up with a blanket, smiling warmly at seeing him fall asleep almost instantly. The two of them watched him sleep for a few minutes, Lucy looking up at Natsu and whispering.

"First day a success?" Natsu grinned and draped his arm over her shoulders, placing a soft, warm kiss to her forehead.

"Definitely."

* * *

**Author's Note: whaaaaat? A new chapter so soon? Is this even real?! The answer is yes. Yes, it is. It's very real. I've made a deal with myself that I'm going to work harder on my writing, especially since my senior year is coming to a close and I'm finishing up the rest of my classes. So hopefully the chapters should come much quicker from now on.**

**Oh my god, you guys. I had so much fun writing this chapter. I have this headcanon that Natsu is super awkward and nervous around babies, since he's barely had any chance to interact with a baby. And here's the introduction of Kibou, one of my favorite Fairy Tail OC's I've ever created. He's super duper cute and I love him so much, and I'm so glad I've finally gotten him into the story. You guys are gonna love him, don't worry.**

**Anyway, leave a review as always. Don't forget to follow this story, because It's gonna get good soon. And don't forget to follow me as well. I'm planning on doing a lot more after I graduate, so don't miss any of it! I love all of my followers so much, and I love your reviews. Keep 'em coming, you guys! Love ya! See you next time!**


	6. A Giant Leap Forward

Chapter VI - A Giant Leap Forward

* * *

Bacon.

That's all Natsu could smell when he woke up in the morning. He lifted his head out of the fluffiness of the pillow, his hair hanging low over his sleep-ridden eyes. He inhaled deeply through his nose, his eyes practically rolling back into his head as the delicious scent hit him. It sent a direct message to his stomach as it growled loudly, begging to taste what was making that amazing smell. He sat up in the overwhelmingly comfortable bed and stretched his back, sighing when his back popped a few times. He and Lucy have been living in their house for a week and a half, coming up to the end of their mission much faster than either of them would have liked. Both of them were having so much fun, especially with little Kibou. Which legitimately surprised him.

Considering Kibou was just two months old, he was expecting the nights to suck ass. Having to get up at two in the morning to soothe a crying, screaming child for hours took a lot of your energy. Or, that's what he heard anyway. Kibou, on the other hand, was like an angel sent from heaven. They only had to wake up late at night three times during their job, and Kibou calmed down almost instantly after one of them had picked him up. And that didn't happen only at night. The day before, he accidentally pinched himself while playing with one of his toys, and all it took to get him to stop crying was one kiss from Lucy and he was instantly back to his normal, giggling, playful self. And not only was he the happiest child in the world, he had to be one of the smartest. He was only two months old, but it was like he could understand what Natsu and Lucy would say to him, and he would _respond._ Not with words, of course, but he would make gestures. They would be small, simple gestures, but clear nonetheless.

When he wanted to be picked up, he would reach to either one of them and flex his hands, as most babies do, but not when they're his age. When he was hungry, he would ask to be picked up and then he would touch either Natsu or Lucy's chest. When his diaper needed to be changed, he would look and reach upstairs because he knew that's where the nursery was, therefore it was where the changing table was. It was unbelievable how intelligent this kid was.

And it broke Natsu's heart to know that he and Lucy were going to have to give him back to his terrible parents in just two days, the parents he knew wouldn't appreciate how smart Kibou really was. He didn't want to leave Kibou with them, and he knew Lucy didn't want to either. But what else could they do? It's not like they can just take him home with them, raise him as their own. For one thing, it would be kidnapping. Even though the child would be much better off at Fairy Tail than he would be with his terrible, most likely negligent parents, it would still be illegal to just take him away, despite it being the right thing to do.

The dragon slayer frowned as he thought about having to leave Kibou so soon. Over the last week and a half, he really had formed a bond with the boy. Both he and Lucy had. He wished they could do something more for him. But what more can they do?

Deciding it best to not think about it for the time being, Natsu shook his head to rid his mind of the solemn thoughts and got out of bed so he could get dressed and go downstairs toward the yummy smells that permeated through the air. Running a hand through his disheveled hair, he made his was down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he saw Lucy standing in front of the stove as she cooked some eggs, holding Kibou in her free arm. She was dressed in a jean skirt and a pastel yellow tank top, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail that was bound by a blue ribbon, tied into a bow. Natsu smiled. He loved that she let her hair grow out so much. It looked better longer.

Kibou grunted cutely with each of Lucy's gentle bounces as she swayed back and forth with him, glancing around the room and brightening up when his eyes fell onto Natsu in the doorway. He smiled widely, causing his pacifier to fall out of his mouth as he reached his little hand out to him, squealing excitedly. Lucy blinked at the noise, turning her head to look over her shoulder. She smiled at Natsu as well as he approached her. She turned the oven off when the eggs were done cooking.

"Good morning, sleepy head," she greeted, giggling at Kibou's excitement when Natsu carefully took him into his arms.

"Mornin'," Natsu chimed, kissing Kibou's cheek repeatedly, knowing it tickled him. Kibou gave out a high-frequency giggle in response, his toothless grin brightening up the room a little bit more. The fire mage laughed softly at the boy's reaction before turning to Lucy, wrapping his free arm around her waist and gently pulling her closer to him, kissing her lovingly. Lucy blinked a few times, surprised by the sudden kiss. The surprise quickly melted away, and as did she. She dissolved into the kiss, lifting a hand up to cup his cheek.

"Mm," she hummed against his lips, her head spinning. Natsu smiled into the kiss, giving her lower lip a gentle bite. She gasped softly and instinctively leaned closer to him, her mind going blank. It blew her mind how quickly his kisses could send her to the moon, how quickly he could get her ready to get into bed. Kibou watched them for a moment before pouting cutely, reaching up and touching Natsu's cheek, trying to push him away.

"Ah!" he shouted, almost as if he was annoyed. Natsu blinked and pulled away from Lucy, looking down at Kibou and laughing at seeing the pout.

"What?" he asked, bouncing him. Kibou whined and pushed on his face even more before reaching out to Lucy, who giggled as she took him back into her arms.

"Aw, are you jealous, baby boy?" she questioned, bouncing him up and down. Kibou only pouted as a response, burying his face against her shoulder and gently clutching the front of her shirt. She giggled and rubbed his back. "Poor baby."

"So I can't kiss my girlfriend anymore?" Natsu chuckled, folding his arms at Kibou. The child pouted at him and tightened his grip on Lucy's shirt, turning his head the other way so Natsu couldn't see his face.

"Looks like you got some competition, babe," Lucy warned with a smile, turning to the food and putting two scoops of eggs and five strips of bacon on a plate before handing it to Natsu, who took it eagerly. He kissed her cheek, chuckling.

"How can I compete with the cutest baby in the world?" he asked, reaching up and tickling Kibou as he walked to the table.

Lucy laughed, plating her own food. "That's the thing. You can't."

He chuckled. "I didn't think so." They started eating. Kibou was instantly interested in the food on Lucy's fork, becoming even more interested because he saw Lucy's interest in it. As she lifted the fork up to her mouth, he reached for it. She blinked at seeing his tiny hand moving toward her fork. She pulled it away and giggled.

"Sorry, sweetheart," she said apologetically, smiling at him. "You're too little to eat solid foods." Her eyes widened when he pouted cutely, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes she'd ever seen. Which was saying something, because she spent so much time with the masters of the puppy dog eyes - Natsu and Happy. She swallowed hard, trying not to cave. "N-no, sweetheart. You're too young." The little child frowned and looked toward his bouncer, reaching for it.

"Ah," he uttered, flexing his hand toward the bouncer. Lucy sighed and kissed his temple, standing up to set him down in his bouncer.

"I'm sorry, baby boy," she said, gently stroking his hair before sitting back in her seat, pouting as she continued to eat her food. Natsu chuckled as he watched the whole exchange, knowing she hated saying no to Kibou, because he had a killer pouty face. And Lucy was a pushover. She always had been, especially when it came to kids. And him and Happy, of course. It was impossible for her to say no to them when they gave her "the face," and he made sure to take advantage of that every chance he got. He knew she hated it, but he didn't care. He loved annoying her. It was just too easy to do. He also knew that she felt bad after saying no to him, even though she had to say no to him. Kibou was too young to eat eggs, so she had to tell him no. And it made her sulk because it made him upset.

But he didn't mind. He thought it was cute.

"Hey, Natsu?" Lucy spoke up, snapping him out of his reverie. He focused his eyes on her.

"Yeah?"

"I was... thinking about going to see Shamaya today," she commented, taking a bite of her bacon. Natsu lifted an eyebrow.

"Why?" he questioned curiously.

The stellar mage shrugged her shoulders. "I, uh... I just wanted to talk to her about Kibou's parents. Try and get information on them." She looked up at him and into his eyes, holding his gaze with her own. "From the little information we have, they don't seem like they really... appreciate Kibou's presence. And he's such a sweet boy, he deserves something better than being underappreciated. I just don't want to leave him with people like that, you know?"

"I agree," he concurred, nodding his head. "I really don't like these people. I can't just... leave him with them when this is over." He looked over at Kibou as he bounced up and down in his bouncer, giggling in content. He chuckled softly. "He deserves better."

Lucy nodded, also watching him play in his bouncer. "Yes, he does." She turned her head back to Natsu. "So you want to go after breakfast? To her office?"

"Sure." He moved his gaze over to hers. "But... what can we do for him at this point? We can't just... take him away."

Lucy sighed and shook her head, looking down at her food and idly pushing her eggs around. "I know that. I just... I just want to make sure that he's safe when we leave him."

Natsu frowned. He hated seeing her like this, upset and distraught. He reached over to her and gently grabbed her hand and held it in his, tenderly stroking the back of her hand. "Luce," he said softly, giving her hand a squeeze when she continued to stare at her food. "Babe, look at me." She swallowed and reluctantly did as told, looking up at him. He sent a warm smile her way. "It'll be okay. Alright? We'll figure something out, like we always do." He leaned over to kiss her temple. Lucy smiled after a moment, lifting her gaze up to his.

"Thank you, Natsu." She leaned her head on his shoulder, placing a soft kiss to it. "You always make me feel so relaxed. How do you do that?"

He chuckled and leaned his head against hers. "I don't know. I guess I'm just awesome like that."

She laughed lightly. "You never miss a chance to boost your own ego, do you?"

"Never," he confirmed with an arrogant grin, kissing her head.

"You're so cocky," she mused, shaking her head.

"You like it," he countered, nuzzling her lovingly. Lucy smiled and blushed lightly, giggling softly. She loved how surprisingly cuddly he was. She didn't take him for the snuggly type, but he really was. He was like a kitten, constantly rubbing up against her and purring, trying to get as close to her as he possibly could. It was adorable. The other night, she woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and he was laying on top of her, his arms around her waist and his head buried between her breasts. When she tried to slip out of his grasp, he only held on tighter and pouted in his sleep. It took her forever to get away from him that night, and she was practically squished when he pretty much pinned her to the bed after she came back. Although she didn't mind. She loved how protective he was of her. It made her feel loved, and safe.

After a few minutes of silently cuddling and eating, Lucy stood and washed the dishes, humming softly. Natsu pouted and whined softly as she moved away from him, watching her walk over to the sink. His eyes scanned over her body, admiring her. He's always known she was beautiful, but he's never really acknowledged it before. She had curves in all the right places, giving her the body of a goddess. And her hair was always so soft, so shiny. He suddenly felt the urge to run his hands through it. And when she turned around to grab a towel to dry the plates with, when she glanced at him and grinned, he felt his heart skip a beat. He blushed lightly as he smiled back, unable to look away from her big brown eyes. He loved those eyes, the eyes that made him melt every day, every time he looked into them. And that _smile_... it sent him to the moon.

God, she was so beautiful.

Natsu hadn't realized he had been staring until Lucy waved a dainty hand in front of his face. He blinked a few times as he snapped out of his trance, focusing his eyes on hers. "Huh?" he uttered dumbly.

Lucy giggled and cupped his cheeks, kissing him sweetly. "You were staring at me," she sang teasingly, stroking his cheek with her thumb. She laughed lightly when he blushed and avoided her eyes. "You're so cute, Natsu." She pecked the tip of his nose before pulling away. "I'm going to give Kibou a bath before we leave." She started speaking in her cutest baby voice as she kneeled down to lift Kibou out of his bouncer. "Because he needs to look nice when we leave the house, doesn't he?" Kibou smiled toothlessly and giggled, making her giggle as well. She held her against his chest and nuzzled her nose against his. "I think so too." She carried him upstairs, smiling radiantly.

Natsu hummed to himself, grinning warmly while he watched the exchange. Kibou made her so happy, and whenever he smiled, it just brightened up her world. He didn't want to think about how sad she was going to be when they had to leave him.

* * *

Kibou was simply fascinated by everything.

Whether it be something shiny, or a bird flying through the sky, a rabbit that happened to cross their path, or even a design on someone's shirt, everything caught his eye. That's what made taking him on a walk in a stroller so hilarious for Natsu and Lucy. Kibou would be ogling at one thing, then something else would go by and snatch his attention away completely. And every single thing would get a different reaction out of him. A squeal of delight, a gasp of awe, a merry giggle, and even stunned silence, each reaction happening back to back, nonstop the entire walk. To Kibou, everything was captivating and worthy of his attention.

"Man, I could watch this kid all day," Natsu mused, watching the myriad of expressions on the young infant's face. "He's so attentive to everything."

"He is," Lucy agreed, smiling as she pushed the stroller along. "It makes you wonder what he's going to be like when he's older."

Natsu only chuckled in response, continuing to observe Kibou. It seemed like he'd only been watching him for a minute or two when Lucy suddenly stopped walking, causing him to stop as well and turn to her. "What?"

She gestured to the building they were currently in front of. "This is Shamaya's office," she stated, opening the door and holding it open with one hand so she could steer Kibou's stroller inside with the other. Natsu hummed in acknowledgement, holding the door open for her and following her inside. He took a scan around the room as they approached the front desk, whistling at how nice it was. Shiny marble floors - freshly polished, he could tell by the smell - that reflected everything as if they were standing on a mirror. His eyes falling upon Kibou, he couldn't hold in the snicker as he saw the child reaching for his reflection on the floor, his eyes wide in amazement.

"Good afternoon," Lucy said politely to the woman at the desk, accompanied with a friendly smile. "Is Shamaya here?"

The woman looked up from the paperwork she was filing, pushing her glasses higher up on her nose. "She is. What is this visit in reference to?"

"We're working for a couple of her clients, and she said we could come see her if we had any questions or concerns." The woman nodded and briskly stood up, putting away some of her files.

"Names?"

"Lucy and Natsu of Fairy Tail."

"One moment." The woman swiftly walked around the desk and down one of the halls that branched off of the foyer, her shoes clacking against the floor. After a brief silence, with the exception of Kibou's incoherent gurgles, the woman returned with Shamaya following close behind her. She grinned at the couple.

"Good afternoon, Lucy. Natsu," she greeted, bowing in respect to them. "What can I help you with?"

"Good afternoon, Shamaya," Lucy said, bowing back to her whilst Natsu offered a simple nod in acknowledgement. The blonde straightened up to look Shamaya in the eye. "Natsu and I have a few concerns with Kibou's parents. We're worried that they might be negligent, and we're reluctant to give him back in a couple of days. We came here so we could talk about his parents, maybe learn a little bit more about them. If it's not too much trouble, of course."

The instant that Lucy mentioned Kibou's parents, Shamaya's demeanor changed. She looked apprehensive, like Lucy's question had made her anxious in some way. Natsu's eyes narrowed as he noticed this, getting a bad feeling. Shamaya swallowed hard and cleared her throat, glancing between him and Lucy before letting her eyes fall to Kibou. She seemed to get even more anxious at seeing Kibou's jubilant face.

"Maybe we should continue this conversation in my office," she suggested, turning on her heel and gesturing for them to come with her. "Follow me." Both wizards frowned and exchanged uneasy glances as they walked behind Shamaya, pushing Kibou's stroller into her office. They sat down in the empty chairs in front of her desk.

"What is it?" Lucy inquired. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, there is," Shamaya sighed, sitting at her desk. "We... have a bit of a problem."

"Which would be...?" Natsu said slowly, waiting for an answer.

Shamaya glanced back and forth between them, her hands folded on the desktop, fidgeting a little bit. "I'm afraid that Kibou's parents have skipped town," she said solemnly. Both Natsu and Lucy reared back in shock simultaneously, their eyes wide, unbelieving.

"Seriously?" muttered the blonde, utterly stunned. She hadn't been expecting this. She knew that Kibou's parents probably weren't the greatest people in the world, but to just abandon their child in the hands of people they've never met before? What kind of person could do something like that? It shocked her to her very core. She was at a loss for words.

Natsu, on the other hand, had plenty to say.

"Are you kidding me?" he shouted, standing up so quickly he knocked his chair to the floor. His pupils had contracted and his fists were clenched, a vein nearly popping on his forehead. He was enraged. "They just _ditched_ their kid? When did you find out? Why hadn't you told us this?"

"I had only become aware of the situation this morning, sir," Shamaya responded, keeping a straight face even though she was obviously startled by Natsu's outburst. "I had planned to contact you-"

"When? When did you plan to contact us? The day we were supposed to leave?"

"S-sir-"

"When did they skip town? Where are they now? If you know, you'd better tell me right now, or I swear I'll-"

"Natsu, lower your voice," Lucy commanded, comforting a displeased Kibou, who wasn't appreciating Natsu's shouting. The dragon slayer turned to them and blinked at seeing Kibou nearly on the verge of tears, convincing him to calm down. For the most part, anyway. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath to settle his nerves. He closed his eyes and cleared his throat, trying to cool himself off.

"I'm sorry," Shamaya mumbled. "I know this comes as quite a shock. It was a shock to me as well. They have always been rather... unpleasant, to say the least. But to think they would just skip town like that... Not even I saw that coming. And I've worked for them for years."

"Do you have any idea as to where they could have gone?" Lucy questioned, bouncing Kibou gently in her arms.

Shamaya shook her head, her hair swaying over her shoulders. "I'm terribly sorry, but I have no idea where they could have gone. For all the years I've worked for them, they've never gone anywhere. And they're very private people, so I don't even know if they have any places that are special to them."

There was a long, pregnant pause. Lucy couldn't believe this. She was angry, almost as angry as Natsu was. She wanted to go out and search for these terrible people, bring them to justice. But she knew that searching for them could most likely be futile. Fiore was a large country, as were the surrounding nations. For all they knew, they probably weren't even in Ishgar anymore. And what's more, what'll happen to Kibou? What would happen to him?

As if reading her mind, Natsu voiced her thoughts. "What about Kibou?" he asked Shamaya. "How does this affect him?"

"Well," she began, clearing her throat as she looked at the baby, "he's going to be put into an orphanage, and, hopefully, he'll be put into a good, loving home."

"That's it?" the fire mage snapped. "You're just gonna dump him into an orphanage?"

Shamaya sighed. "I wish there was an alternative. But as far as I know, his parents were his only family. There's nothing else I can do but put him in an orphanage. Believe me, if there was another option, I would do it. But there isn't." Natsu wanted to yell at the woman, demand that she come up with something else, something better than an orphanage. But he bit his tongue, knowing his yelling would upset Kibou. Besides, if he blew a fuse, it wouldn't help anything. Or at least, that's what Lucy constantly tells him when he loses his temper.

"Shamaya-san," Lucy spoke up, waiting for the woman to turn her attention to her before continuing. "Um... if it's alright with you, do you think Natsu and I could finish our mission? Continue taking care of Kibou until we were originally supposed to? We have... grown quite attached to him. Plus it was our job to watch him for a whole two weeks, and we plan to stick it through."

"Of course," Shamaya said with a short nod. "I need a few days to straighten some things out anyway. And don't worry, this won't affect your pay. You'll still get the five million Jewels." Neither mage said a word in response, Lucy gently setting Kibou back into his stroller and strapping him in. She looked at the woman as Natsu opened the door, holding it open for her.

"Thank you for your time, Shamaya-san," she said, bowing politely before exiting the room with Natsu.

The walk back the house had been completely silent. Neither Natsu nor Lucy had anything to say, even though both their minds were running at a million miles per hour. They didn't like the idea of Kibou being put in an orphanage. Not one bit. There was no guarantee that he was going to be taken to a loving home, as much as they hoped that he would. There wasn't even a guarantee that the orphanage itself would be good to him.

And it broke their hearts to think about.

Kibou was such a smart child. He was like an angel sent down from heaven, and they both just _knew_ that he had so much potential. He had so much light inside him, he could brighten anybody's day with just a simple smile. And to think that his parents had absolutely no appreciation for it, for him... it blew their minds to no end. How could someone not give a simple crap about the sweetest, smartest child to ever bless the world with its existence? Neither of them could understand.

As they walked through town, Natsu turned his gaze down to the little blessing himself and frowned. He wished there was something he could do to help the poor kid. He hated feeling so helpless, like he wasn't in control. The whole situation was bad to begin with, considering he and Lucy were going to have to leave him alone with his terrible, negligent parents. But since they were now going to have to leave him alone in an orphanage, the situation had gone from just bad to a total shit storm. And the worst part was, was that Kibou had no idea. He was just sitting in his stroller, amazed by everything that caught his eye, entirely content with life as it was. He had no idea that in just three days, he would have nothing akin to a family, probably for the rest of his life.

Then, as if he'd been struck by lightning, a thought occurred to Natsu.

What if, just _what if..._ he and Lucy were his family?

The instant the notion processed fully in his head, he doubted it. There was no way he and Lucy could be Kibou's family. They have only known the kid for a week and a half. Not only that, but he and Lucy have only been _dating_ for a week and a half. Chaos would surely ensue if he mentioned starting a family with Lucy at this point, he knew. He happened to know Lucy very well, and if he brought this up to her, she would certainly flip out. He didn't have a doubt in his mind about that. She would think he was being crazy.

But, as he continued to think about it, it didn't seem all that crazy to him. This passed week and a half had felt... right to him. Taking care of Kibou had come naturally to both him and Lucy - more so to Lucy than to him, but he didn't feel like addressing the technicalities - and surely she felt the same way, right? During the entire mission, she's been saying how much fun it was and how much she was actually loving it. And it was obvious that Kibou liked them just as much as they liked him. _Would_ being Kibou's parents actually be that crazy?

"Hey, Luce?"

"Yes?"

"Let's adopt Kibou."

* * *

**Author's Note: ugh, I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others, not to mention slower. But I realized halfway through writing this chapter that if I'd kept writing the story as I was, I would be going through it too quickly. So I'm trying to drag the story out longer to hopefully make it better. I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. But if it was, don't bail on me! The story is going to start picking up, I promise!**

**Anyway, don't forget to leave a review. Constructive criticism is always welcome. I love all my lovely followers, and thanks for dealing with my inconsistency! I'll try to update regularly after I'm done with high school and once I actually get some free time for the first time in several years! Love ya! See ya next time!**


	7. Surprise!

Chapter VII - Surprise!

* * *

_"__We should adopt Kibou."_

Lucy stopped in her tracks, staring out into space. _Did... did he really just say that?_ she thought to herself, her cheeks aflame. _Did he really suggest that we... adopt a child together?_ She didn't know how to respond to such a proposal. She didn't think her heart could beat that hard, or that her thoughts could kick into overdrive in a millionth of a second. All because of four little words that just came out of her boyfriend's mouth, her boyfriend of a meager eleven days. Not eleven weeks, not eleven months, not eleven years. _Eleven days._

_Was he serious?_ she pondered, unconsciously clenching the handle of the stroller in her hands so hard it made her knuckles turn white. _There's no way he could have been serious. It took him __years__ to make a move on me. There's no way he was seriously suggesting we adopt a child. No way. Right?_ Swallowing the lump in her throat, she slowly turned her gaze to Natsu, who stood beside her as he watched her face, waiting patiently for a response. There was no hint of a joke on his face, which was unsettling for Lucy. She knew him so well that she could always tell if he was pretending to be serious as a joke, or if he was actually serious. And the expression he had right now, his unblinking eyes that remained focused on hers, his mouth set into a straight line that wasn't twitching with the need to smile and laugh and say "I'm just playing, Luce!"

Natsu was serious.

Unable to conjure up any words at the moment, Lucy turned to face forward and continued to walk back to the house, staying completely silent. Natsu, startled and confused by her response, watched her walk away for a moment before moving to catch up with her.

"Lucy?" he called out, hoping he hadn't freaked her out with the suggestion. He felt an anxious bead of sweat run down the back of his neck when she didn't respond to him, with neither words nor a glance in his direction. Now he was certain she was freaking out. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him a moment before, but he ignored it, hoping - _praying_ \- that it was just his imagination. But now he was sure it wasn't just his imagination. He'd scared her. He cleared his throat. "U-um... Luce?"

"We'll talk when we get back to the house," she said softly, her voice still caught in her throat. "I need to think for a moment."

Natsu gulped as he felt the most nervous he had been in a very long time. The fact that she didn't want to talk until they were at the house, in private, and safe from making a scene, could either be really good or really bad with Lucy. He knew that she could either go one of two ways: either she'll be appalled that he would have even suggested such a thing and scold him for trying to move too fast with her, or she would be the complete opposite and actually be _happy_ that he made the suggestion. Usually, he was pretty good at determining which reaction he was going to get. He could read her like an open book, after all. But right now, he didn't have a single clue what was going on in her mind. He didn't have the slightest inkling as to what she was thinking, and how she was going to react when they got back to the house.

A part of Natsu just really wanted to get to the house as soon as possible so that he could get an answer to all his questions, but another part of him wanted to make the trip back to the house as long as possible, because he was afraid of the answers to his questions. He couldn't recall if he'd ever felt this conflicted about confrontation, with Lucy of all people. He was usually pretty solid in mind about confronting Lucy about things. But now, he was terrified and uncertain. What if he'd fucked up the chance to be with her? What if she broke up with him because of this stupid proposition.

The instant that thought entered his mind, he shook his head to force it back out. He knew Lucy wouldn't break up with him over something like that. Even if she was surprised and scared about him moving too fast with her, some part of her has to know that he's trying to do what's in Kibou's best interest. Some part of her knows that he just wants to protect the little guy from getting hurt. Doesn't she?

After what seemed like mere seconds as well as an eternity - the mix of the two sensations was very perplexing for Natsu - they arrived at the house. Lucy continued not to say a word as she opened the door and pushed Kibou's stroller inside, kneeling down to unstrap him and lift him up into her arms. The dragon slayer swallowed hard as he closed the door behind him, waiting apprehensively for her to speak. The silence was close to unbearable; the only noise going on in the living room being Kibou's cute little grunts and gurgles.

When she finally did speak, it made Natsu jump. "I don't know if we can adopt him, Natsu," she said solemnly, placing a tender kiss to Kibou's temple before setting him down in his bouncer.

"Why not?" he replied, swallowing again. His throat had run dry.

"Because we can't, Natsu. We've only been dating for eleven days. Eleven. And we've only known Kibou for the same amount of time. It would be... insane and irresponsible of us to take Kibou into our care, permanently."

The fire mage's eyes widened a fraction, surprised by her answer. "Irresponsible? How would taking a child that needs our help into our custody be irresponsible?" he inquired incredulously. "I'm not saying we should kidnap him or something. We should adopt him. He likes us, and we like him. What's the harm in making him happy for the rest of his life? Think about it. He will have a much better chance with us than he would ever have in an orphanage."

Lucy sighed as she sat down on the couch, watching Kibou bounce up and down, giggling with content. Natsu had a point. Kibou would be in such good hands if they decided to adopt him and take him home to Fairy Tail. There would be a one hundred percent chance that he would find happiness, as well as a family that'll always love him unconditionally. But...

"We're so young, Natsu," she reminded him, turning her attention onto the dragon slayer himself. "We're inexperienced. What if something were to happen to him because we didn't know what to do?"

"Luce," he began softly, sitting beside her and smiling warmly as he took her hand into his. "Every single first time parent in the world is inexperienced. The best way to become experienced, is to _gain_ experience." He placed a soft kiss to her cheek. "I know we can do this. This is what is best for Kibou."

"But, Natsu, we don't have anything at the house for a baby."

"That's what money's for. We'll buy everything we need, especially if we're still getting paid those five million Jewels."

"What will the guild say?"

"You've been in Fairy Tail for a couple of years now, and you're concerned about them _disapproving_ of us adopting a baby? You saw how happy they were when we told them that we had gotten together. They're gonna go fucking ballistic when they realize we came home with a baby."

Lucy huffed and sent him a glare, harshly smacking his arm. "Natsu, you baka, Kibou's right there!" she chastised, gesturing to the jubilant little baby. "Watch your language."

Natsu chuckled and rubbed his arm. "Sorry," he said, smiling despite the pain. "But Lucy, you know as well as I do that this is what's best for him. There's no guarantee he's gonna go to a happy, loving family if he gets put into an orphanage. Heck, there's not even a guarantee he'll get adopted in the first place. If he comes home with us, he'll always be happy. He'll have a home, and a family that'll always be there for him. He deserves that much, doesn't he?"

Lucy sighed and rubbed her arm, watching Kibou play. "I don't know, Natsu," she muttered truthfully.

Natsu smiled and kissed her cheek. "Fine. How about this?" He slid off the couch and crawled over to Kibou's bouncer, gently lifting him up into his arms and holding him against his chest. He looked at Lucy with his best puppy-dog eyes, which was accompanied by Kibou's innocent, sweet, chubby face. "How can you say no to this face?" he asked cutely, rounding his eyes to make them look bigger.

Lucy pouted at being double-teamed. "That's cheating, Natsu," she whined, trying to keep herself from smiling. Natsu didn't falter though, continuing to hold his face, batting his eyes at her, which finally pushed her over the edge. She sighed, but smiled, crawling over to them as well. "Fine. You've convinced me." She cupped Natsu's cheek and kissed him lovingly. "Let's do it."

"I knew you'd come around," Natsu smirked triumphantly, returning the kiss with vigor. Kibou smiled radiantly and giggled, as if understanding the circumstances and realizing that he was going to have two new, awesome parents. But, in a split second, he also realized that Natsu was hogging Lucy, which didn't sit right with him. With the cutest pout known to Earthland and a hearty shove, he pushed on Natsu's cheek.

"Ah!" he shouted.

"Oh, dear," Lucy giggled, pulling away and taking Kibou into her arms. "You've made the poor thing jealous again, Natsu."

"Is this gonna become a regular thing with you, kiddo?" Natsu asked with amusement, tickling Kibou's tummy. "Am I never gonna be able to kiss Lucy from this point on?"

"Ah!" Kibou responded with a silly giggle, loving being tickled.

* * *

"Lucy, I think we've got enough stuff."

"I think we need more."

"But, Lu-"

"I just want to be prepared, Natsu."

"Lucy-"

"What do you think, Kibou? Do you think we need more stuff?"

"Ah!"

"See? Kibou agrees with me."

"He'll agree with anything you say if you say it like that!" Natsu whined, pushing the heavy cart full of baby stuff. They had finished their job in Clover Town, and were officially Kibou's parents. But they were now back in Magnolia, and their house didn't have anything for a baby. So they were currently at the nicest, most renowned baby store - according to Sorcerer Weekly, anyway - to pick up a few things. Or, the entire store, Natsu was coming to realize.

They had been shopping for hours, and Lucy just had to look at every single thing and buy ten of everything. He eyed everything in cart with a wary stare, praying to Mavis that it was all going to fit into his and Lucy's tiny house. She suggested to him the night before that they should consider looking into getting a new place, but he said he didn't think it was necessary, because he knew for a fact that his house in the middle of the woods was big enough. But now, as he's staring at all the baby supplies, it's got him wondering that maybe, just _maybe,_ that little house in the middle of the woods wasn't going to be big enough. And it made him worry. Where were they going to put everything? Was Kibou going to have to share a room with Happy if there wasn't any room in his and Lucy's room for a crib? How would Happy react to that?

Come to think of it, how was Happy going to react to this entire situation?

Natsu didn't think about clearing this with Happy at all. The thought never even crossed his mind.

"Ooh, Natsu, what do you think about this?" Lucy's voice woke him up from his thoughts, allowing him to turn his attention to her. She was holding up a little onesie with a Fairy Tail insignia on it.

"Babe, we've gotten him fifty different things to wear," he deadpanned. "Several of which already have our emblem on it. We don't need ano-"

"But we didn't get him this one," she sang, putting the onesie in the cart and continuing to look around, pushing Kibou along in his stroller. Natsu sighed but didn't protest, knowing that it would all be for naught. Trying to talk Lucy out of buying something was like trying to talk Erza into thinking that cake was disgusting. For all the time that he's known her, Natsu has avoided going shopping with Lucy every chance he got. And up until now, he's been rather successful. There was one incident a little while after they met, where her punishment for him sneaking into her apartment while she was bathing was that he had to go shopping with her. For the whole day. It could have been worse that it was, but it was still miserable for him.

He never had to wonder why Lucy had to constantly go on jobs to get money for her rent, because she never had any money, because of her crazy shopping problem.

Of course, he would never tell her that she had a problem. He wasn't that stupid.

Not to do it a second time, anyway.

"Maybe we should have brought Erza's luggage wagon," he suggested, idly fiddling with his wristband.

"Why do you say that?" Lucy inquired as she looked through the teething rings.

"Well, we might need something bigger than this cart if you're planning on purchasing the entire store."

Lucy sent him a light glare, huffing as she put her hands on her hips. "I _told_ you, Natsu. I want to be prepared for anything."

"I understand that," he said, looking at her with a bored gaze. "But seriously, Luce. Are you trying to spend the entire five million Jewels we made in one trip to the store?"

The blonde only huffed indignantly and turning back to the teething rings, muttering to herself. "Boys. You can't take them anywhere."

Natsu narrowed his eyes slightly, but instead of retorting, he just rolled his eyes to himself, leaning against the cart with a long, heavy sigh. He watched her through hooded eyes as she picked out a chain of teething rings and turned to Kibou, holding them out to him.

"What do you think of these, baby boy?" she asked sweetly, smiling down at him. Kibou examined the rings curiously for a brief moment before grinning widely and giving his typical squeal of approval. Natsu, despite himself and his boredom, smiled softly at the exchange. _Jeez, she's spoiling him already,_ he mused. _She doesn't even need to buy him teething rings yet. I wouldn't be surprised if she bought him his first bicycle or magical item today too._

He chuckled softly to himself. They've been Kibou's adoptive parents for less than a day, and she's already becoming his mother. He sighed dreamily as he stared subconsciously at her.

Natsu snapped out of his daze when a familiar scent hit him. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he turned to follow the scent. His eyes widened at seeing a familiar face a few aisles down, completely baffled by the person he saw.

"Gray?!" he exclaimed. The sudden call of his name caused Gray to jump in surprise and spin around toward the source of the voice. He blinked when his eyes landed on Natsu, the color draining from his face.

"Shit," he muttered to himself, looking around for an escape route. But it was too late. Natsu was already making his way over to him.

"What in the hell are you doing here, snowflake?" he shouted in disbelief.

Gray huffed. "I could ask you the same thing, pyro!" he said defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm shopping for my son, as a matter of fact!"

"Since _when_ do you have a _son?"_

_"_Since four hours ago! Lucy and I adopted the child from the mission!"

Gray fell silent, not expecting an answer like that. His eyebrows raised to the point of being hidden by his bangs, his eyes so wide it seemed like they could just pop out of their sockets at any second. Once the dragon slayer's words processed in his head, he took a step back and made a rewind gesture with his hands.

"Whoa, back up for a sec," he said. "Did you just tell me that you and Lucy_ adopted _a child together?"

Natsu cooled off, clearing his throat and sheepishly rubbing his neck. He didn't mean to just blurt that out to him. Damn him and his stupid, uncontrollable impulses. "Y-yeah, we did," he stammered, his voice lowered. "His parents abandoned him, and we didn't know what else to do. So we adopted him." Before Gray could say anything else on the matter, Lucy approached them, pushing Kibou's stroller in front of her with one hand, while she dragged the heavy cart behind her with the other.

"Jeez, Natsu," she griped. "Thanks for ditching us back there." She turned to Gray when she noticed him, blinking a few times in surprise and confusion. "Gray? What're you doing here?"

Ignoring the question, Gray kneeled down in front of the stroller to get a better look at Kibou. He smiled at the young child, reaching his hand out to him. "Hello, there," he greeted him, arousing curiosity from not only Kibou, but Natsu and Lucy too. Kibou stared at his hand for a moment before grabbing it with his own tiny hand, holding onto one of his fingers. Gray chuckled lightly and gently shook his hand, practically beaming with a kind of energy that neither Lucy nor Natsu had ever seen in the ice alchemist before. "It's nice to meet you, little dude." Kibou stared at him, but giggled after a brief pause, smiling up at him.

"Ah," he uttered.

Gray chuckled and stood up. "He's a little cutie." He turned to Lucy. "What's his name?"

"Kibou," Lucy told him slowly, surprised by seeing a different side of Gray she'd never seen before. The ice mage didn't seem to notice her confusion, only smiling wider and nodding his head, looking down at the child in the stroller.

"Cute name."

"Whoa. Who knew you turned into a different guy around kids," Natsu stated, perplexed as well. Gray spun around to look at him, sneering at him.

"What? Am I not allowed to be sensitive?" he snapped, his eye twitching in annoyance.

"That ain't what I said, frostbite," Natsu snapped back, snarling. "Stop putting words in my mo-" He blinked when Lucy suddenly grabbed hold of his hair, also grabbing Gray's, pulling them both down so they were eye level with her.

"There will be _no_ fighting in front of the baby," she warned, sending them both a glare that was almost as scary as Erza's. "Do you understand?"

"H-Hai," the boys squeaked in unison.

The celestial wizard nodded curtly and released them. "Good. Now, Gray, try and answer my question this time." She looked up at him. "Why are you shopping at a baby supply store?"

Gray suddenly got a little uncomfortable, gulping noticeably as he reached a hand up to scratch the back of his head. He avoided their eyes. "Uh..." Before he could give them an actual response, Juvia came running up to them, holding two little onesies in her hands.

"Gray-sama," she sang merrily, practically sparkling with joy. "What do you think of these?" She held the onesies up for him to see. They were both pastel blue with cute white snowflakes on them. "Aren't they just adorable?" She jumped when she realized Natsu and Lucy were there, her eyes widening instantly as he face flushed to a deep red. "O-oh... hello, Natsu-san. Lucy-san. What brings you here?"

"What brings _you_ here?" Natsu asked back, staring at them with wide eyes. Juvia swallowed thickly and exchanged glances with Gray, who looked just as anxious as she did. After a long silence, the ice wizard cleared his throat and nodded to her, folding his arms over his chest and adverting his stare from the group, a light but distinguishable blush on his cheeks. Juvia swallowed once more and faced Natsu and Lucy, who were watching them expectantly.

"J-Juvia's pregnant," she stuttered, shyly playing with the ends of her hair. Natsu and Lucy's eyes widened simultaneously, and the group fell into silence once again.

Once Lucy had found her voice, she cleared her throat and said, "You're pregnant?" A single, nervous nod from the water mage was all the blonde needed to start bouncing up and down and squealing like a school girl. She hugged Juvia. "Oh, my god, congratulations!" Juvia blinked several times before smiling brightly and hugging her back, bouncing with her.

"Thank you!" she giggled.

The celestial mage smiled at her as she pulled away. "How far along are you?"

"Juvia's about fourteen weeks," she answered, smiling radiantly as she subconsciously put her hand on her abdomen.

Lucy smiled brightly and looked at Gray. "And you're the father?"

Gray cleared his throat and nodded, a soft shade of pink dusting over his cheeks. He was visibly trying to keep himself from smiling, but he just couldn't keep it contained. "Yeah. I am," he said with an affirmative nod. Lucy's grin suddenly fell into a scowl as she started to pound on his arm with her fists.

"What the hell, Gray?! Why didn't you tell me you and Juvia had gotten together?! I thought we told each other everything!" The devil slayer blinked at the sudden onslaught of fists against his arm, trying to step away and out of the line of fire.

"Ouch, Lucy!" he yelped, rubbing his arm once he'd gotten a safe distance away from her. "Damn. I'm sorry, okay? I woulda told you, but Juvia wanted to keep it a secret. And then she got pregnant, and so she _really_ wanted to keep it a secret."

"Gray-sama's right," Juvia concurred. "When Juvia got pregnant, she didn't want to tell anybody until it was... safe to start telling people."

"Well, that's understandable," Lucy admitted, folding her arms. "But still. How did it happen? _When_ did it happen?"

"Well, we started going out after the guild disbanded last year," Gray explained. "Considering we were living together, it was too difficult for me to hide my feelings for her. So... I stopped hiding them." He blushed brightly and looked away to avoid eye contact, embarrassed by how cheesy that story was.

"Aww," Lucy cooed, giggling. "How sweet. It took you long enough to accept your feelings. Do you have to be so stubborn about everything, Gray?"

"Oh, leave me alone."

"I have a question," Natsu interjected, eyeing the two, identical onesies in Juvia's hands. "Why did you get two of the same onesie, Juvia?" The water mage tilted her head at the question, looking down at them in her hands. She blushed slightly and giggled.

"Oh, because Juvia is pregnant with twins."

* * *

"Well, that's the last of it," Natsu announced as he plopped onto the couch beside Lucy, leaning his head against her shoulder with a soft, exhausted sigh. "Crib's all set up, too." After they had finished talking to Juvia and Gray at the store - which took what felt like an eternity to both Natsu and Gray, who just had to tag along silently behind the girls as they shopped for baby stuff together - they had gone home to set up all of the stuff they bought.

Which meant _Natsu_ was the one that set everything up, while Lucy used the excuse that she needed to "keep an eye on Kibou to make sure he didn't get lonely."

"You sound tired," Lucy pointed out as she fed Kibou, never looking away from the child's adorable face as he drank from the bottle, making cute, soft suckling noises as he did.

Natsu huffed. "I am, as a matter of fact. It would've been nice to have some help setting up the crib. And the changing table. And the highchair. And the-"

"I told you before, Natsu. I had to stay with Kibou."

Natsu rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, yeah, I know you did. God forbid you leave him alone for two minutes." He sat up and placed a soft kiss to her cheek. "You're already becoming overprotective of him."

"So what?" she countered, smiling warmly as she tenderly stroked Kibou's cheek. "I'm his mother now, aren't I? I'm supposed to be overprotective of my baby boy, right?"

He chuckled softly, leaning his chin on top of her shoulder to watch Kibou eat. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He glanced up at her face through the corner of his eyes, grinning at the expression she had. She may had put up a fight when he first suggested that they adopt him, but she was more down with the proposition that he was. The instant they signed the adoption papers and Kibou was put into their permanent custody, she instantly went into full-on mother mode. She had no problem transitioning to being his "mommy," and he could tell that she was looking forward to spending every day with him from that point on.

He couldn't blame her, though, for being so excited. Because he was just as excited as she was. And he could tell that Kibou was excited about the arrangement as well. He was nothing but a pure bundle of joy the entire time they'd been in Magnolia. He was totally eager to see everything that Magnolia had to offer, and as far as Natsu could tell, Kibou was totally digging his new home. His favorite part about the new house that he was living in was definitely Happy.

Happy came by the house earlier to welcome them back from their mission, and he and Kibou were instantly best friends, which had felt like a gigantic weight had been lifted off Natsu's shoulders. Ever since the thought about how he and Lucy didn't clear the situation with Happy beforehand, he had been concerned that maybe the Exceed wouldn't be pleased with it at all. Which now, he realized, was a stupid thing to be concerned about. He should have known that Happy wouldn't have been anything other than, well, happy about having a new member of the family. In fact, the only reason the little feline hadn't stuck around was to get out of helping them unpack the heaps of baby stuff they had brought home.

"Can you believe it about Gray and Juvia?" Lucy asked, snapping Natsu out of his thoughts. He looked up at her and tilted his head.

"What about Gray and Juvia?" he inquired.

"That they're having a baby, duh. That they've having _two_ babies! I think that's incredible. I can't believe it." She grinned and looked down at the sweet child in her arms. "Kibou's going to have two little friends in just five months."

Natsu smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he is. It's crazy to think about though. I didn't even have a clue that they were together in the first place."

"Neither did I! Juvia was surprisingly really good at keeping something like that a secret. I would have expected her to announce it to the entire guild the instant the guild got back together."

"I would have expected her to announce it to the entire world."

She laughed. "Yeah, that seems more like her. It's actually quite impressive that she was able to keep her relationship with Gray a secret for so long. Before they were dating, she couldn't go two minutes without expressing her love for him, let alone close to a year." She turned to face him, smiling. "And wasn't it weird to see Gray like that? Like he had... baby fever."

"Yeah, it was weird," he concurred. "It was kinda weirding me out a bit. I never woulda thought that Gray would be one of those guys that swooned at every baby he saw. It was like he was high as a cloud as he walked through that store."

"I guess he's more excited about Juvia's pregnancy than he's leading on," the stellar mage suggested. "Are you happy for him?"

"Pfft," he scoffed. "As if. Like I could ever be happy for that perverted stripper."

"Oh, please, Natsu. You know just as well as I do that, even though you hate to admit it, Gray is your friend. A close friend, at that."

"Frostbite is _not_ my friend! I hate that ice princess's guts!"

Lucy giggled and rolled her eyes, standing up with Kibou once he finished eating, taking him into the kitchen so she would remember to clean his bottle. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Natsu."

The dragon slayer scoffed, folding his arms. _Yeah, right. Like the stripper could be my friend. Bah. I can't even stand being his guildmate._ Despite his claims, as Natsu started to actually think about it, he was happy for Gray. Especially considering the life he's had, it's actually... rather nice to see him like that, to see him genuinely happy about something.

But of course, he would never admit that to any living soul. Ever.

* * *

**Author's Note: what's this? An update so soon? I gotta say, I really love the days where I can just ****_write_**** without having to stare at my laptop for hours on end and only get a sentence or two down. There's nothing else like it.**

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews. I'm loving all the love you guys are giving me and this story. Just keep it coming! Love you guys!**


	8. Guy Time

Chapter VIII - Guy Time

* * *

**_Four Months Later_**

Natsu and Lucy already knew that Kibou was a social child, but they had no idea to what extent. It was like he could sense the good in every single person, and that was enough for him to become friends with just about anybody. The first day they took him to the guild, he had taken a liking to every single soul. Even Gajeel, who many other children are easily frightened by the sight of. But not Kibou. He took one look at the iron dragon slayer and instantly became his friend, acting just as sweet and bubbly as he did with everyone else.

"He's such a beautiful child," Levy stated, smiling fondly at the boy in Lucy's arms. "He's just so cute and friendly."

"I know," Lucy giggled, bouncing Kibou on her knee and placing a soft kiss to the crown of his head. "I love this little boy." She turned her attention to the girls. "He just started to crawl the other day."

Erza grinned, taking a bite of her strawberry cake. "Really? He's growing so fast."

"Tell me about it. It seems just like last week when Natsu and I adopted him."

"Speaking of you and Natsu," Cana began, taking a swig of her sake, "how are you two?"

Lucy smiled brightly, craning her head to look over her shoulder, her eyes falling upon Natsu at another table, having a rather intense arm wrestling match with Gray. She giggled softly and turned back to the girls. "Natsu and I are great," she answered truthfully. "We get closer and closer every day."

"How often do you guys have sex?" the card mage asked bluntly, a mischievous, teasing smirk dancing on her lips.

"Wh-wh-what?" Lucy stammered, her big brown eyes widening and her cheeks flushing to a deep red, stunned by the question.

"You heard me," was Cana's simple, nonchalant response, her shoulders giving a small shrug.

"U-um... I don't really feel comfortable with talking about that with Kibou sitting right here." She looked down at the blissful, oblivious baby sitting in her lap, making cute little noises as he played with his favorite dragon toy.

Cana scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, please. He's only six months old. He won't understand a word."

"Be that as it may, he's still a six-month-old baby, and I'm not going to talk about my... S-E-X life with Natsu with him sitting in my lap."

"Fine. Give him to Natsu, then."

"What? Cana-"

"Oi, Natsu!"

"Cana!"

"Yeah?" Natsu called as he continued to arm wrestle with Gray, his competitive, determined gaze never wavering.

"Kibou wants to be with his daddy!"

The dragon slayer instantly perked up at those words. "He does?" He smiled widely and immediately slammed Gray's arm down to the table with ease, like he was wrestling with a flower, before standing up and running over to the girls, leaving a dumbfounded - and rather ashamed - devil slayer behind. "Come here, little buddy!" he said in his baby voice, lifting Kibou out of Lucy's arms and into his own.

"Ah!" Kibou cheered, snuggling happily into his chest. Natsu smiled and swayed with him, rubbing his back and kissing the top of his head. Lucy's swooned internally. She positively adored watching Natsu interact with Kibou. He was dedicated to doing anything and everything for him, always ready to hold him, cheer him up, feed him. He was as dedicated to being a father as he was to being a wizard. And he was just as good at being a father as he was at being a wizard. He was attentive and nurturing, having a tenderness that Lucy didn't know him to possess. It just melted her heart into mush.

Natsu blinked when he noticed not only Lucy's eyes on him, but the rest of the girls were staring at him as well. He lifted an eyebrow. "What?" he uttered, slightly uncomfortable by all of the eyes staring at him.

"You're just so cute with a little baby, Natsu," Cana teased, taking another drink out of the mug that seemed to be magically refilling itself. The dragon slayer's eyes widened a fraction as his cheeks darkened to the shade of his hair. He gave a little huff, muttering a soft "whatever" under his breath as he turned and left to go sit with the guys. Gajeel raised an eyebrow at seeing Natsu's blush, taking a break from munching on some screws.

"What's with your face, Salamander?" he griped, spinning an iron bolt around one of his fingers.

"Nothing," Natsu snapped, looking down and focusing his attention on Kibou so he wouldn't feel the urge to punch his fellow dragon slayer in return for that comment. He bounced Kibou on his knee, chuckling softly at the little grunts Kibou made with each and every bounce. He giggled in delight, holding tightly onto his father's sleeve so he wouldn't fall over. Natsu smiled and bounced him a little higher, eliciting an adorable squeal from the child. Bouncing on his father's knee was one of his favorite things to do, and Natsu took advantage of that every chance he got.

"He's getting big," Gray observed, dipping some of his fries into some ketchup before popping them into his mouth. "How old is he now? Six months?"

"Yeah," Natsu confirmed, nodding his head. "He started crawling the other day. Lucy said we're gonna have to start baby-proofing the house."

"Baby-proofing?" Gajeel echoed. "What does that mean?"

"Like covering up the corners on the coffee and putting locks on the drawers he can reach so he doesn't hurt himself or get into things he shouldn't be getting into." The guys all nodded and hummed in understanding.

"When will he start teething?" Gray questioned, chuckling softly as he watched Kibou suck on his tiny hand, uttering muffled nonsense as he did.

"Uh... pretty soon. Within the next month or two, I think," Natsu answered, scratching the back of his head. "Lucy's mentioned it before. But I can't remember. We're already prepared for when he does start to teethe, though. Lucy bought him a crap load of teething rings and toys when we adopted him."

"Along with the rest of the store?" Gray snickered, recalling the two carts Natsu had to pull around the day they bumped into him and Juvia at the baby store, the two carts that were packed to their max capacity with baby stuff, including things that Kibou wouldn't need for several months.

"No kidding," the dragon slayer sighed. "She really does have a shopping problem, whether she's shopping for herself or not."

Gray hummed, stirring his drink. "Juvia's the same way. I _hate_ when she makes me come with her. She just _has_ to try on _every single thing_ she likes, and every thing she _kinda_ likes." He mimicked Juvia's voice. "'Maybe it will look better on Juvia than it does on the hanger!'" He sighed and shook his head, his voice returning to normal. "It drives me insane. But I don't mind. She's never bought anything that she didn't look even remotely good in."

Gajeel snorted. "You're only sayin' that 'cause you're head over heels in love with her," he remarked, gnawing on a screw. "You think she looks good in everythin'."

"Well, she does," Gray sneered at him. "She could be in a ratty t-shirt and baggy sweatpants with her hair done up in a bun, and she'd still pull it off. But like you're in any position to talk. You practically drool over Levy no matter how she's dressed. At least I have a little class."

"That ain't true!" snarled Gajeel, slamming his glass onto the table. "I don't drool over the shortstack!"

"Yeah, you do," Natsu agreed, changing Kibou's position in his lap so he could rest his head on his shoulder. "She's got you so whipped. If she were to ask you right now to come help her build another library for her dorm at Fairy Hills, you wouldn't dare say no because you can't stand it when she's disappointed."

Gajeel growled as his cheeks went warm. "Like you got any room to talk, Salamander! Didn't you get Bunny Girl a fuckin' tree because she couldn't go to the Hanami Festival? Talk about whipped!"

"Yeah, but she never asked me to get her the tree," Natsu retorted. "And I'm dating her now. So what? Do you have any idea what happened when I finally admitted to her that I was the one the uprooted one of the sakura trees and sent it down the canal next to her apartment? Best night of my life, that's what happened!"

"Speaking of which," Gray interjected, staring pointedly at the fire mage, a smirk on his face, "what's Lucy like in bed?" Natsu blinked a few times at the question, his cheeks turning a little pink. Despite his initial surprise by it, he internally sighed and rolled his eyes. He knew this topic was bound to come up eventually. He was actually surprised that it had taken someone this long to ask him about it. He had expected that one of the older guys in the guild to ask him for the details of his and Lucy's sex lives a few months ago, when they'd first gotten together.

"Sorry, frostbite," Natsu said indifferently, wiping the away the drool that had accumulated on Kibou's chin. "That's just between me and Lucy."

"What?" Gray shouted incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"Yup. She's told me that she doesn't want me to tell you guys anything about what we do in the bedroom. Besides, isn't she like a sister to you? Why would you want to know what she's like in bed, you creep?"

Gray huffed indignantly and folded his arms over his chest. "I ain't a creep. It's just... Lucy's so shy and awkward about this kind of thing. She goes tomato red just by saying a word like boner. Can't help but be at least a little curious as to what she's like when she's actually having sex, not just talking about it."

"He has a point," Gajeel concurred. "Just tell us, Salamander."

"Nope," the fire mage insisted, shaking his head. "Sorry. Lucy would kill me if she found out I told someone about our sex lives."

"Who said she was gonna find out?"

"You _know_ Lucy, right? It's nearly impossible to keep a secret from her when the secret actually concerns her. I'm not gonna risk the chance. She's scary when she's mad. Have you forgotten what happened when you pantsed her that one time?"

Gray's eyes widened as his face was drained of color completely, the memory flashing into his mind. It was a few months after Lucy had joined the guild, back when they didn't know each other very well. He and Natsu were brawling in the guild hall, and the dragon slayer landed a good punch to his jaw, knocking him back a few feet and causing him to stumble back, accidentally grabbing onto Lucy's skirt and pulling it down with him. He barely had time to apologize before coming face to face with a livid celestial wizard, and then having his head shoved into the mahogany bar counter. The mere memory sent violent shudders down his spine.

"O-okay, maybe you're right," he admitted shakily, clearing his throat and subconsciously giving the collar of his shirt a tug. "You don't have to tell me."

"That's what I thought," Natsu chuckled, looking down at Kibou as he muttered nonsense to no one in particular, just wanting to be heard. The small child blew a raspberry, more slobber dribbling down his chin. Natsu laughed gently, wiping his face. "Oh, yeah? You sure have a lot to say today, dontcha?"

"Appa!" Kibou exclaimed in response, smiling widely as he grabbed the end of Natsu's scarf and started toothlessly munching on it.

"He's a vocal little thing, isn't he?" Gray chuckled as he watched the little exchange. "Is he always like this?"

Natsu nodded his head, smiling at the tiny baby in his arms. "A lot of the time, yeah, he is. He has nonsense conversations with me and Lucy all the time. I can't imagine what it's gonna be like when he can actually talk. He's just gonna be a little chatterbox." He nuzzled his nose against Kibou's. "Aren't ya, buddy?" The only response he got from the little guy was a giggle, his radiant smile lighting up the entire room. Natsu chuckled and stood up. "Alright, one of you hold him for a few minutes? I gotta use the bathroom."

"I'll take him," Gray offered, eagerly straightening up a bit.

"Alright." He kissed Kibou's head before carefully handing him to the ice mage. "You're gonna sit with Uncle Gray for a few minutes, okay?" He blinked a few times as he processed what he'd just said, freezing in the process of passing Kibou to him. "Did... did I just deem frostbite as his uncle?"

Gray only chuckled as he took Kibou into his arms. "You sure did, flamebrain," he affirmed, holding the child to his chest. He bounced with him, smiling at the baby as he made his voice go up an octave. "Did ya hear that, little dude? I'm your uncle now!"

"Ah!" Kibou replied, making soft, cute grunting sounds with each bounce.

A dark cloud appeared over Natsu's head as he slumped against the table, completely baffled at himself for letting such a preposterous thing slip from his mouth. "Ice q-queen... as my son's uncle..." he whined under his breath, fisting his hair.

"Oh, quit your moping," the ice alchemist snapped, swaying as he bounced Kibou in his arms. "I thought ya had to use the bathroom, dragon breath."

Those words seemed to effectively snap Natsu out of his sulk-fest. "Oh! Right!" He hurried off toward the bathroom. Gray rolled his eyes, not all that surprised that Natsu had already forgotten why he'd given Kibou to him in the first place. He didn't have the strongest attention span, after all. He looked down at the child in his arms and smiled warmly, trying to ignore the swelling feeling in his chest.

He'd never been an uncle before.

And he could totally get used to it.

Playing with a little baby, lifting him up above his head to get the little thing to squeal and giggle in delight, watching him light up the entire room with his bright smile and vivid blue eyes. Oh, yes. He could definitely get used to this.

"Are you having fun, little man?" Gray questioned, bouncing Kibou in his lap. Kibou smiled a wide, toothless smile, his only response a soft, cute giggle. The ice mage chuckled, returning the smile. "Do you like hanging out with your uncle Gray?"

"Ah!" Kibou cheered jubilantly, clapping his hands together.

"Good," Gray replied, tossing him into the air once more.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Natsu warned as he came back from the bathroom, watching them with a slightly annoyed scowl. He didn't like seeing his baby boy get along so well with his rival, but he knew both Lucy and Juvia would be upset with him if he didn't let Gray practice for when _his_ babies arrived. So he kept his annoyance in check.

It absolutely had nothing to do with _him_ being happy for Gray and his soon-to-be-fatherhood. It really didn't. He simply didn't want Lucy nagging him about it.

Really.

"Why not?" Gray inquired, not even sparing Natsu a glance as he continued to play with Kibou, reveling in the adorable squeals he received.

"Lucy hates seeing Kibou being tossed into the air. _Hates_ it. She won't even let me do it. If she catches you doing that, she'll claw your eyes out."

"Oh, please," the devil slayer dismissed, rolling his eyes. "You're just being dramatic."

"I'm really, _really_ not," Natsu defended with a heavy sigh. "Trust me, droopy eyes, Lucy's fiercely protective of that boy. I'm not even allowed to bounce him too high." Gray didn't seem to heed Natsu's warning, continuing to play with Kibou and toss him into the air.

Meanwhile, over at the girls' table, Lucy's eye twitched like mad as she watched Gray carelessly throw _her_ baby around, the vein on her forehead about to burst. How _dare_ that icy exhibitionist make her baby laugh by putting him in danger. Why she oughta...

"Uwa!" Juvia swooned from across the table, hearts in her eyes as she held her arms against her voluptuous chest, her heart pounding swiftly at the sight of her beloved play with a tiny baby. "Gray-sama is so dreamy with children!"

"Yeah, well," Lucy griped bitterly, "you won't be saying that when it's _your_ child he's throwing in the air."

"Oh, relax, Lucy," Cana berated with a casual sip of her sake. "He is not 'throwing' Kibou anywhere. He's just playing with the kid. Besides, look at the tyke's face. He's having a blast."

"He's throwing him!" she repeated with a sneer. She growled and grabbed Kibou's bottle, launching it into the back of the devil slayer's skull with a resounding _bonk! _"Hey! Gray!"

The said ice wizard blinked, bewildered, and held Kibou with one arm so he could reach back to rub his head, turning to look at Lucy from over his shoulder. "What was that for?"

"Stop throwing my baby into the air or I'll come over there and kick your testicles _clear_ off your body! You'll look like a Ken doll down there!"

Gray sweatdropped and only nodded as a response, not wanting to risk saying anything he would regret. He turned back to the table, narrowing his eyes at Natsu, who sat with an annoying smirk on his stupid face.

"What're you looking at, pyro?" he spat.

"Told ya so," Natsu retorted matter-of-factly, his smirk ever present on his mouth.

* * *

Another thing that was nice about Kibou being so energetic and social?

He was easily worn out.

After saying goodbye to just about every single person at the guild, the child had fallen asleep three minutes into the walk home. His head rested against Natsu's shoulder, his arms and legs hanging limply toward the ground, his mouth open only slightly, his fine brown hair falling over his eyes a bit.

The celestial mage smiled fondly, draping his blanket over him to make sure he was nice and warm on the walk home. "He's such a beautiful little angel," she mused, tenderly brushing his bangs away from his eyes. Natsu hummed in agreement, kissing the top of his head as he carried him. "It's a shame he can't stay this age forever. He's getting big way too fast. I don't want him to grow up."

"I know you don't," Natsu chuckled. "Neither do I. But he will. There's nothing we can do to stop him."

"I know that," she pouted. "But still. I just want him to be small and sweet and bubbly forever." The dragon slayer grinned and cautiously exchanged Kibou into her arms, knowing just by the look in her eyes that she wanted to hold him. She always got this soft, longing, motherly look whenever she wanted to hold him. He didn't think she was aware that she did it, but it was clearly noticeable. It was actually pretty incredible how quickly Lucy adapted to being a mom, how quickly she fell head over heels for him. It amazed Natsu how easy the transition was for her. Not that the transition was difficult for him. He'd become accustomed to being a father pretty quickly too.

But Lucy... she took to Kibou like a fish to water.

And he loved it.

He loved _her._

He loved the way she played with him, the way she worried about him, the way she held him, the way she looked at him. He loved how she smiled, how she laughed, how she talked, how she walked. He loved the way her nose scrunched up when she was mad, and how she sometimes hummed in her sleep. He loved everything about her. But... there was something that was missing. But what? He couldn't put his finger on it, no matter how hard he tried. What could possibly be missing?

"Natsu?"

The sudden call of his name snapped him out of his trance. He blinked several times and turned to look down at her. "Huh?" he uttered intelligently.

Lucy frowned in concern, touching his hand. "You've been really quiet the whole walk home. Is everything alright?"

Natsu took that moment to look around and scan his surroundings, surprised to find himself standing in their living room. Had he really been daydreaming the entire walk back to their house? "Yeah," he replied with a light clear of his throat. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just thinking."

"What about?"

_You,_ he wanted to answer. But, instead, he responded with a simple, "Nothing."

The stellar mage gazed at him for a long moment before nodding and turning away. "Alright. I'm going to put Kibou to bed." And with that, she walked into Kibou and Happy's bedroom.

Natsu sighed, knowing the reason behind her tone. She could tell he was lying. Why did he lie, he wasn't sure. He was allowed to be thinking about her like that, considering they've been dating for several months now. Why lie to her? He plopped onto the couch, not having an answer to that question.

He just hoped he could figure it out soon.

* * *

**Author's Note: hey, guys! So sorry for the long wait. Things have been rather crazy the passed few months, what with school and stuff. I have been going through finals, and prom, and graduation is on the 25th. So I've been pretty busy. But, lo and behold, here's a new chapter! I hope it wasn't bad. I worked on it rather sporadically since April, so it might seem a bit choppy, and I apologize for that. But I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.**

**I would also like to let you guys know what's gonna be going on. I graduate on Wednesday (yay!), so hopefully I will be able to give you guys another chapter before June since I won't have all my attention focused on school. But if not, I will not be able to update until sometime in July, because starting on June 2, I'm going to be traveling and doing a whole bunch of fun stuff with my family, and I'm most likely not going to have time to work on my writing. But after June, I'll be free as a bird! Just letting you guys know you might not hear from me for awhile again.**

**Anyway, don't forget to leave a review. We've hit 100 reviews the other day, and I'm super stoked! Keep 'em coming, you guys! I love you guys so much!**


	9. Hiccups and Uncertainty

Chapter IX - Hiccups and Uncertainty

* * *

It started one night while Natsu and Lucy were trying to put Kibou to sleep.

Everything started out perfectly. Kibou ate just as he was supposed to, continuing to be his typical bubbly self. He went through the usual nightly routine with flying colors, even taking a bath without any resistance, although he did seem rather reluctant. But neither Natsu nor Lucy wanted to point out his weak resistance, knowing that since Kibou was so incredibly intelligent, he might have taken their statement as permission to be cranky during his bath, as he usually was, considering his dislike for water. But tonight, he didn't seem to mind it. Or, at least, he didn't seem to mind _tolerating_ it.

But despite going through the typical routine, as Natsu was carefully lowering the small child into his crib, it happened.

Nothing all that peculiar, not to Natsu and Lucy, anyway. But that tiny little "_Hic!"_ really caught Kibou off guard, his eyes wide and stunned as he looked around the room, as if searching for the cause of what he'd just experienced for the very first time.

Natsu chuckled, not thinking much of the hiccup, since it wasn't new in the slightest to him. "What was that?" he asked playfully, setting him down in his crib and covering him up with his favorite fluffy blanket. But Kibou wasn't very amused, continuing to scan the room before looking up at Natsu and Lucy with big, bewildered eyes. Lucy giggled with such warm affection it made Natsu's heart ping.

"Don't worry, baby boy," she cooed, reaching down and stroking his hair. "It was just a little hiccup-"

"_Hic!"_

With the second appearance of that strange feeling, Kibou's already wide and expressive eyes practically doubled in size, frantically searching for the cause while uttering a soft, perplexed whine. Both of his loving parents only chuckled softly, their warm grins putting him at ease, albeit only slightly.

"I know it's a weird feeling, sweetheart," the blonde murmured, leaning down to kiss his forehead. "But it's just a hiccup. It's harmless. Annoying at times, but harmless." Still unsettled, Kibou shifted his uneasy gaze to Natsu, silently waiting to see if he would confirm Lucy's words.

"Mama's right, kiddo," he agreed, smiling down at him. "Just a hiccup. You're gonna experience a lot of them throughout your life."

Relaxing, however minutely, thanks to their comforting words and warm, unworried energy, Kibou spared one last gander around the room before finally letting his eyes fall heavy and drift closed, allowing both adults to quietly leave the room.

"Oh, my goodness, he's so adorable," Lucy mused in a whisper as she watched the dragon slayer close their son's bedroom door, leaving it open just a crack, just the way he preferred.

"He really is," he concurred with a grin. "It was hilarious to watch him look around like something was responsible for making him hiccup."

"It was," Lucy trailed off as they walked toward their own bedroom. Taking notice of this, the dragon slayer turned his head to face her, his lips curling down into a slight frown.

"Hey, he said softly, arousing her attention and causing her to look up at him with those big brown eyes that made him weak in the knees. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she nods sincerely. "He's just..." She stops as she glances over her shoulder to look at Happy and Kibou's room, sighing worriedly. "I'm just hoping it was only those two hiccups and that he doesn't continue to hiccup through the night. Without how much just those two freaked him out, if he wakes up hiccuping, it's going to freak him out even worse and cause him to cry, and you know I can't stand hearing or seeing him cry. And-"

"Luce," Natsu called, snapping her out of her thoughts, cutting her out of her rambling. He gave her a gentle, reassuring smile, one that made her heart relax almost instantaneously. "You worry too much. Kibou's gonna be fine. You'll see. He's not gonna freak out about some hiccups. He was just surprised by the first few."

"You think so?" she questioned anxiously, glancing back at the door.

"I know so," he stated firmly, guiding her toward their bedroom. "He'll be fine."

She swallowed thickly, forcing down the anxious lump in her throat. "Okay"

* * *

**2:18 AM**

"I told you he would freak out," Lucy chastised over Kibou's cries, holding him in her arms and bouncing him gently to try and soothe him. As Lucy had feared, he'd woken up in the middle of the night due to his hiccups, and without his parents there to comfort him, he started to panic and cry. That was about an hour ago, and he still couldn't stop sobbing, only taking brief pauses every minute or so to hiccup.

Natsu sighed and ran a hand through his disheveled, rosy hair, opting not to say anything in response to Lucy, knowing that since she was tired and stressed out from trying to get Kibou to calm down, anything he would say would probably set her off. He just kept his eyes on his bawling son, his mouth settling into a frown. He really wanted to do something to help him calm down, but nothing they tried worked, because every time they managed to get him to settle down, he would hiccup again. And the entire thing would repeat itself.

They both winced and cringed as Kibou let out a particularly loud wail, the combination of his pesky hiccups, the stressful energy emanating from his parents, and the sleep deprivation starting to overwhelm him. Lucy exhaled sharply and approached his dragon slayer partner, her frustration and lethargy painted clear on her face.

"Can you hold him for a second?" she asked irritably, the question coming out a little more snappy than she'd intended. The tone caused Natsu to flinch a bit, doing as told and taking the child into his arms.

"O-Okay," he stammered, tenderly bouncing to soothe the child. "You going somewhere?"

"I need to use the bathroom. And try something else other than bouncing him, will you? It's clearly not working." She started to storm out of the room, before stopping, turning to face him, and placing a dainty hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired."

The fire mage simply nodded. "I know, babe. So am I, so is Kibou, and so is Happy." He glanced over at the said feline, feeling a pang of guilt at seeing him curled up in his fluffy little bed, holding his ears flat with his paws, his eyes droopy with bags hanging beneath them. He sighed, turning his attention back to the blonde with a warm, however sleepy, smile. "It's okay, Luce. Just go take a break. I'll try and figure something out to get him to stop crying."

"Thank you, Natsu," she muttered tiredly, kissing his scarred cheek before turning on her heal and leaving the room. He watched her leave before looking down at his crying child, feeling his heart sink into his stomach. He hated seeing his little boy cry, especially at this decibel. He sat down in the rocking chair and slowly started to rock back and forth, stroking the fine brown hair on top of the boy's head. He hushed him softly.

"It's okay, kiddo," he whispered, holding him close to his warm chest. "I know they're annoying, but they're not that bad." He planted a sweet, loving kiss to his crown. "It'll be okay. It'll pass."

Kibou's cries dwindled down to soft whimpers, his large, glossy eyes looking straight into his soul. The fire mage gave him a comforting grin and grabbed the end of his scarf, tenderly drying his face. "There you go, kiddo," he said just above a whisper, kissing his forehead. The small child sniffled, a few more large, stray tears trickling down his cheeks as he leaned into Natsu's warm chest, his body slowly relaxing. The dragon slayer released a steady breath of relief, noticing Happy across the room as his furry body deflated, his paws falling away from his ears and allowing them to perk back up.

"Peace and quiet," the feline mumbled, his eyes falling closed as he fell asleep almost instantaneously. Natsu chuckled silently, looking back down at Kibou and feeling relief wash over him at seeing him start to fall asleep as well.

"He stopped crying," Lucy whispered as she came back into the room, the relief evident on her face as well.

"Yup. I'm just that good," Natsu boasted with a playful wiggle of his eyebrows. Lucy allowed a small giggle as she stepped forward, tenderly moving Kibou's bangs away from his face.

"I suppose you are-"

"_Hic!"_

And the entire process started over again.

* * *

**Two days later...**

Gray winced as he watched Natsu and Lucy sit down at the table, Lucy pulling Kibou's stroller up so he could sit beside them. "Sheesh, you guys look tired," he stated, taking notice of the dark bags that hung behind the dragon slayer's eyes and red, bloodshot tint in Lucy's. He then glanced at Kibou and noticed he looked rather weary too, but didn't seem too bothered as he played with his dragon stuffed animal. "Rough night?"

"Make that several nights," Natsu corrected, yawning as his rested his chin in the palm of his left hand. "Kibou's got the hiccups. Persistent ones."

"They won't go away," Lucy stressed, running a hand through her long, blonde hair. "He hasn't slept in two days, and neither have we."

Natsu lazily turned his gaze to look at Kibou, watching him play and listening to him babble nonsensically, hiccuping occasionally. "He doesn't seem to mind the hiccups as long as he's engaged in something. But when it comes to going to bed..." He trailed off with a long, exhausted sigh. "They freak him out. He cries, and wails, and every time we manage to get him to calm down, he hiccups again and it starts over."

"So he's fine during the day?" Erza questioned, taking a bite of her cheesecake as she spared a worried glance at Kibou.

The celestial wizard sighed. "More or less. He's just as exhausted as we are, so he's been a lot more... touchy than usual. He's constantly fussy, puts up a fight whenever we try to change him or bathe him. He pulled Natsu's hair this morning for trying to change his clothes."

"Can't really blame him, though," Natsu remarked, rubbing his face. "I'd be cranky too if I had hiccups this relentless."

"Poor kid," Gray hummed, looking at them. "Do you want me and Juvia to take care of him for a couple days? So you can get some rest?"

"We appreciate the offer, Gray, but it's fine," Lucy said, giving him a small, tired smile. "He's our responsibility. We can't just let someone else take care of him for a day or two just because we're tired."

"Lucy, you guys are more than tired," Gray persisted. "You both are exhausted out of your minds. You guys look like zombies, for crying out loud."

Lucy shook her head. "No, Gray. We're not putting Kibou into your responsibility because we're tired. We'll be fine. Really."

"Besides," Natsu added, watching Kibou play with his toy. "They have to go away soon, right? They've been going on for a couple of days, it's gotta be coming to an end."

"I hope so," sighed the blonde, reaching down to tenderly stroke Kibou's hair. The child looked up at her and swatted at her hand with a touchy grunt. She sighed and withdrew her hand. "Sorry, sweetheart."

The ice mage watched the three of them, worry pulling the corners of his mouth down into a frown. They were all clearly so tired that, if they could, they would all simultaneously pass out right here in the middle of the day, at the noisy guild hall. He wanted to offer to take care of Kibou for a day or two once more, but he could tell Lucy was already starting to lose patience with him, and he decided it wouldn't be a good idea to prod at a mama bear who's sleep deprived and cranky. He wanted to help them so that they can at least get some rest, even for a little bit. But he doubted they were going to give in and comply. They were both so stubborn, and this was no exception.

His deep blue eyes turned to look at Kibou when he heard a soft "_hic!"_. Oh, the poor thing looked just as worn out as his parents did, if not more so, the sight causing his frown to deepen a bit. He had to admit, though, Kibou was being incredibly... mellow for a child under the age of a year old that hasn't slept in several days. If he were like any other kid, he would be kicking and screaming bloody murder, desperate for the solace and comfort of a good night's sleep. But he was sitting in his stroller quietly, playing with his toy, behaving like the perfect angel he was. Natsu and Lucy were so lucky to be blessed with such a patient child.

He just hoped - _prayed_, actually - that Kibou's hiccups would cease soon. For all of their sakes.

Gray snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Lucy's hand wave in front of his face, drawing his attention back up to her, briefly taking a the time to notice that Natsu was slumped over the table, his eyes blank and staring at nothing, his body half asleep. "Helloooo," Lucy called, her eyes narrowed in her typical "moody Lucy" expression. "Earthland to Gray Fullbuster. Come in, Gray."

"Sorry," the devil slayer said, clearing his throat. "I was zoned out."

"Obviously." She rested her chin in her palm, her dark brown orbs blinking lazily at him. "So where's Juvia? How's the pregnancy going?"

"She's out having a spa day with Erza," he answered with an idle wave of his hand. "Her lower back's been killing her. She's been having a really hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep too, so she's pretty worn out."

"I can imagine," the stellar mage nodded in understanding. "She's been getting pretty big. How far along is she now? Seven months?"

"Yeah. Closing in on eight."

Despite her lethargic state, she smiled brightly and reached over to grab his arm, giving him a gentle shove as she sang, "It's getting close. Are you excited?"

A small, nervous smile curled onto his face. "Uh... yeah, I am. Anxious, but excited."

"Have you two decided on any names?"

"No, not really. Juvia wants to name them in the moment. But I'm pretty sure she has a few ideas in mind already."

"What about you?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side a little bit. "Do you have anything in mind?"

Gray paused for a moment to think, running a hand through his messy dark locks and releasing a long exhale through his nose. "I mean... yeah, I have a few things in mind. But I don't know if she'd like them."

"What are they?"

"I don't wanna say."

Lucy scoffed, folding her arms. "Why not? I thought we told each other everything!"

"Well, I want to keep this to myself, if you don't mind," he retaliated. "I don't have to tell you _everything_ if I don't want to."

"But now I'm curious," she whined, pouting. "Tell me what the names are. Please?"

"Nuh uh."

"Pretty please?"

"Nope."

"Gray, come on, pleeeeeaaaaasse?"

"The physical appearance of the 'please' won't change my mind, Lucy."

"Hmph," she huffed, perching her lips in her signature pout. "Fine. Be that way." Gray rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself. Even in her state of exhaustion, she's as sassy as ever.

* * *

The dragon slayer sighed slowly as he sat on the couch with Kibou in his arms, holding up his sippy cup so he could drink the ice cold water that was inside. Levy had suggested giving him a full cup of water, as it was almost always an effective remedy for curing hiccups, according to the book she'd recently read. But so far, it didn't seem to be doing anything. Kibou was hiccuping constantly as he drank the water, and he took frequent breaks from doing so. Which Natsu knew he probably shouldn't be doing, but he let him anyway, not wanting to make him more irritable than he already was. He cringed a bit when Kibou hiccuped during one of his breaks.

"Jeez," he muttered. "Still not working?"

"No luck with this either?" Lucy questioned sleepily as she sat beside him, drying her hair with a towel. She'd just gotten done with a quick shower.

"Not so far, no," he admitted solemnly, holding the sippy cup back up to Kibou's lips as he started to drink again. "He's almost done with the cup. I really hope it works, because I don't want to make him drink another full cup of water in the same sitting."

Lucy groaned and leaned her head against his shoulder, watching Kibou as he blinked slowly with heavy eyes, taking languid gulps of his water. "I guess we might be in for another sleepless night."

"We _can't_ go another night, Luce," Natsu emphasized, turning his head to face her. "None of us can go another night without sleep, especially not Kibou. This needs to work. He needs to get some sleep."

"I know he does, Natsu, but we can't force him to drink water until his hiccups go away or his bladder explodes, whichever comes first."

"We'll try other remedies if this doesn't work. Levy also said eating a spoonful of sugar is an effective way to-"

She cut him off with a deadpanned expression. "You want to give our child sugar before he goes to bed for the first time in several days?"

He rolled his eyes, his tone sharpened. "A _spoonful,_ Luce. Not the whole container of it. I doubt he'd be on a sugar high after just one spoonful." He sighed heavily and fell silent as he leaned his head back over the back of the couch, his onyx eyes staring lazily at the ceiling. Lucy gazed at him for a long moment before exhaling steadily, placing a soft kiss to his cheek.

"Natsu," she began, running a hand through his hair and giving it a few strokes. "I know you're stressed, and that you're tired, because believe me, I am too. But we need to keep a leveled head, because if we start snapping at each other, it'll only stress us out even more. And we don't need that right now." The dragon slayer stayed silent, turning his head toward her, holding her gaze with his own. She gave him a tender kiss, cupping his cheek and rubbing it with her thumb. After a minute, she pulled away with a smile on her face. "Besides, doesn't this kinda remind you of when we got trapped in that cave while we were looking for that stupid Hakobe Ice?"

"I dunno if I'd say that," Natsu chuckled. "This is a completely different situation."

She giggled. "Well, the sleep deprivation is certainly reminiscent, don't you think?"

"I guess, yeah. Being stranded in that ice cave was a lot more miserable though. Because we were also starving while being sleep deprived."

"That's true." She grinned at him, tracing the scar on his cheek. "I have to be honest. I'd much rather take a sweet baby with relentless hiccups over being freezing, starving, and exhausted any day."

"So would I," he agreed. They gazed at each other for several minutes before the dragon slayer finally lifted his head to look down at Kibou and check on him. His eyes widened to the point of nearly popping out of their sockets and his breath hitched in his throat. "L-Luce..."

"Hm?" she hummed quietly, her eyes blissfully closed.

"Kibou's sleeping."

Her eyes shot open instantly, sitting up and looking down at the baby in her boyfriend's arms. "He is?" Sure enough, he was. He was out cold against Natsu's chest, breathing slowly and steadily, his mouth hanging open a little. Both wizards held their breath, staring at the child and waiting to see if he hiccuped or not. Seven minutes passed, and not a single hiccup.

"It's over," Natsu whispered, grinning brightly and bouncing slightly on the couch without disturbing him. "It's over!"

"Thank Edolas," Lucy breathed, smiling as well and standing up. "Come on, let's get him to bed." Natsu nodded in agreement and carefully sat the sippy cup on the coffee table, securing Kibou in his arms and standing up on his feet. He carried him down the hall and into the nursery, making sure not to make any movements or sounds that would disturb Kibou in even the slightest. After cautiously laying him down in his crib and tucking him in, both he and Lucy silently left the room, closing the door but leaving it open just a small gap.

"Remind to me to thank Levy tomorrow," Lucy said as they headed to their room, causing Natsu to chuckle.

"For fucking real," he concurred, planting a warm kiss to her temple. And with that, they both collapsed onto their bed, not even bothering to change into different clothes or climb under the covers. The instant their heads hit their pillows, they were out of commission.

* * *

"So have things finally gotten back on track now that Kibou's hiccups are gone?" Gray asked as he and Lucy sat at the guild's bar two days after Kibou's hiccups had passed. He had decided to join her at the bar because she was sitting by herself, which was unusual. Ever since she and Natsu got together, they'd been inseparable, always by each other's side. But it made sense to learn that Natsu was at home with Kibou, keeping an eye on him so he could sleep in a quiet place. Lucy sighed slowly, staring at her drink as she idly stirred the ice inside.

"I suppose," she answered, instantly spiking Gray's concern. He turned to face her, a slight frown on his face.

"Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's _wrong_, really. It's just…" She sighed as she trailed off, slouching a bit over the bartable. Gray's frown deepened as he touched her shoulder, silently urging her to talk and open up to him. She gulped and rubbed her arm nervously, causing the ice mage's concern to worsen.

"Lucy, what is it?" he pressed softly gently massaging her shoulder. Lucy exhaled slowly through her nose.

"Natsu's… been acting weird lately," she replied, lifting a hand to rub her neck.

Gray only scoffed. "Only lately? That pyro hasn't always been weird?" he said with a light chuckle, hoping to cheer her up. But his grin fell away from his face when she didn't laugh at all, not in the slightest. He sighed, resigning. "How has he been acting weird?"

The celestial wizard stayed silent for a moment, sparing a quick gander around the guild hall to make sure Natsu wasn't there to overhear their conversation. She turned back to her drink. "I don't know, really. He's just been… aloof, distant. Like something has been on his mind, but he doesn't want to talk to me about it. And that's strange because he never feels weird about opening up to me."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" he questioned with a frown. Even he had to admit that was a little strange. Natsu was never secretive, even when they were little. He always spoke his mind if something was bothering him. And to keep something from Lucy, no less. That was pretty worrisome, even for Gray.

"Of course, I have," Lucy responded indignantly, like it was the most obvious thing in Earthland. "But he's just so evasive. Every time I try to talk to him about it, something else just suddenly has his attention and he changes the subject or ignores me entirely." Her eyes blinked a few times as an idea struck her brain like a bolt of lightning. She turned to Gray, her big brown eyes wide and pleading. "Could you talk to him, Gray?"

The ice mage choked on his drink, his eyebrows raised so high they were hidden behind his unruly bangs. He craned his head to look at her. "You're joking, right?" he asked incredulously. "I can't talk to him about something he can't talk to even you about."

"Please, Gray. Can you at least try?" she pled, grabbing his shoulder desperately. "I need to know what's going on with him. And since he won't talk to me, maybe he'll open up to someone else."

"I highly doubt he'll open up to me, though," he said slowly. "He might have a greater chance of opening up to Mirajane or Erza. Or Lisanna. Ask Lisanna to talk to him."

"Gray," she said softly, holding his hand. "Please do this for me." Gray felt his will power chip away as he held her gaze, her chocolatey orbs staring straight into his soul. He deflated in resignation, releasing a defeated sigh.

"Fine. I'll talk to him." He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug, giving her a gentle squeeze. "You and your damn expressive eyes."

She only giggled, leaning into his shoulder. "Thank you, Gray."

* * *

**Author's Note: hey, guys! Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. I've just gotten so busy with traveling and personal stuff. And I got a new computer as my graduation present, as well as The Sims 3 for said computer. That game is so addicting, and it is my guilty pleasure. I've been playing it whenever I get the chance, which is basically all the time.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I love the idea of Gray and Lucy being really close friends, almost like brother and sister. That's how I see them in the manga and in the anime. Sorry if it's a bit choppy; writer's block has been my enemy these passed few months and has caused me to write in sections rather than having the story flow fluidly like it should. But chapter ten is already in the works and, hopefully, should be done and uploaded soon! Thank you guys for your support and lovely comments - keep 'em coming! I love you guys to death. I've also been working on some oneshots here and there, so keep an eye out for them! See ya next time!**


	10. What's Missing

Chapter X: What's Missing

* * *

"What do you want?" Natsu snapped as he answered the door, holding a sleeping Kibou in his arms.

"Can I come in?" was Gray's simple reply, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance from Natsu's touchy tone. He made a promise to Lucy to stay on his best behavior, and he was going to try with all his might to keep his promise and refrain from blowing that irritating scowl right off of that stupid pyro's dumb face with an ice lance. Which was something he _really_ wanted to do, especially after he watched him narrow his eyes at him, and then roll them before reluctantly stepping aside to let him in.

"I guess," the Salamander griped.

Gray stepped inside, looking around the house. "This is a nice place," he observed casually, trying to come off as friendly, but having it come out as forced instead. The comment was sincere, however. He hadn't visited the house since before Lucy moved in, and he could definitely tell that she was currently living here. Everything was clean, and it didn't smell like a squalor, like it did before she moved in and this house had nobody to clean it more often than once a year (if even). "It's nice to have a woman living with you, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess," Natsu said, closing the door behind him and turning to look at his rival. "Whaddya want?"

"Geez, dragon breath. Could ya chill a bit? Why can't I come over to visit for awhile? What's got your taint in a twist?"

The dragon slayer only released a sharp exhale, making a gesture for Gray to follow him before going down the hall, holding Kibou's sleeping form close to his chest. Gray instantly got the idea, following him and staying silent. He knew they shouldn't risk waking up the poor kid, considering the passed few days he's had. He deserved to get some beauty sleep whenever he could. He watched as Natsu opened a door with a cute sign reading "Kibou and Happy!" with a little smiley face drawn next to it, carrying the small boy across the small yet spacious room and setting him down in his crib.

Gray took the opportunity to look around the quaint little nursery. There was a blue dresser standing against the back wall, next to a changing table that matched the pure whiteness of the crib, a huge stuffed dragon sitting in the corner of the room with a treasure chest filled with toys beside it. And hanging from the ceiling was a tiny, fluffy bed, a blanket adorned with silly cartoon fish draped over it, indicating it as Happy's bed. And inside Kibou's cradle, beneath a mobile made of stars and the zodiac signs, was a small plush dragon and a blanket with a roaring lion imprinted on it. Gray tilted his head, perplexed as he watched Natsu tuck Kibou into that blanket.

"So what's with the lion?" he whispered, so he wouldn't disturb the slumbering child. Natsu turned to him before looking at the blanket. He smiled and chuckled softly.

"Loke gave it to him," he answered, stroking Kibou's hair. "Lucy's spirits made his mobile, too."

"How nice of 'em," Gray mused, smiling as he gazed down at Kibou, all tucked into his crib. Natsu hummed in agreement, continuing to tenderly play with Kibou's hair, drawing Gray's attention. He had to admit, seeing Natsu in a fatherly position was odd. Growing up, he'd never thought Natsu would become a father. Or, not when he was this young, at least. He couldn't picture Natsu settling down and having a family. When he met Lucy, he did acknowledge that becoming a greater possibility, but he still had a hard time picturing it. So standing here, actually witnessing Natsu be a father, it was odd. Surreal, even.

The ice mage snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Natsu stand up straight and turn to him, muttering "let's go" under his breath and turning to leave the room. Gray followed behind him and closed the nursery door, the two of them traversing back down the hall toward the living room.

"So what do you want?" Natsu asked once more. "I know you don't just show up at my house to 'visit'."

"Well," he started, casually leaning against the wall and slipping his hands into his pockets. "I talked to Lucy, and she mentioned something about you acting weird lately."

The Salamander blinked, not expecting an answer like that. He turned to face him. "Lucy said that?"

Gray nodded once. "Yeah. She said you've been aloof, like something's been on your mind, but you won't talk to her about it. Is something going on?"

Natsu narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

"Because, dimwit," he huffed, crossing his arms. "It _is_ weird that you won't talk to Lucy. You always go to her when something's upsetting or bothering you. You not talking to her about something _is_ a cause of concern. So don't bullshit me. What's going on?" Natsu kept his gaze steady and sharp as he scanned over Gray, trying to sense if there was an ulterior motive behind his visit. Because it's one thing to come by to check on a friend - not that he and Gray are _friends_, just to clarify - but Gray's never been one to confront him with a serious concern. He determined that Lucy must have sent him, which didn't really bother him. He knew she would eventually ask someone to come talk to him, because even he can tell that he's been kind of evasive lately. Not that he was trying to be, of course, but he couldn't help it. He knew he couldn't keep up his facade for very long.

But regardless, he never expected _Gray_ to actually show up and try to have a heart-to-heart with him.

"It's just," Natsu began with a sigh before he realized what he was doing. Was he actually going to _confide_ in Gray? Not only that, but did he actually _want_ to? _Has the world come to an end?!_ "I've just had a lot on my mind the passed couple of weeks."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well… that's the thing." Natsu sighed once more and plopped onto the couch, rubbing his face. "I don't think I can."

Gray lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. "What do you mean you can't? Why can't you?"

"I'm not sure _what_ exactly has been bothering me. But I know it's something… just… _something_."

The exhibitionist stared at the dragon slayer, a little unsettled by how distraught he seemed. It wasn't often when something would be bothering him to such a degree that he didn't even know how to address it. He took a deep breath and let it out as a slow sigh, swallowing his pride and pushing aside the part of him that wanted to stay out of his rival's business, the part that believed he should be talking to his significant other rather than him.

"Well, when did this 'something' start to bug you?" he inquired, taking a seat on the other side of the couch. Natsu hummed and closed his eyes, thinking. When _did_ he start to have these thoughts?

"I think… it started right after we adopted Kibou," he answered after a long, pregnant pause. "After we bought everything and saw you and Juvia at the store. We put everything together- well, _I_ put everything together, and we just sat and talked for a while, and when she got up to go put Kibou to bed, I just…" He trailed off, thinking of how to phrase how he was feeling that night. When he came up empty handed, he only sighed, running a hand through his rosy hair and idly scratching the back of his head. "I don't know. I just… I was so happy. At that point, nothing could make me happier. But, at the same time, it just felt like… something was missing. But I don't know what."

Gray hummed, trying to decipher what Natsu was telling him. _That is rather peculiar_, he thought to himself. _What could be missing? It has to be important because it wouldn't have such an impact on him if it wasn't. It also must have something to do with Lucy. Because whether or not he realizes that, he's been avoiding talking about this with her. If it didn't have anything to do with her, I doubt he'd feel weird about talking to her about it_. He suddenly paused amidst his thoughts, something clicking inside his mind. _Maybe that's it._

"Natsu," he began, catching the said dragon slayer's attention. "What's bothering you, could it possibly have something to do with your relationship with Lucy?"

"Eh?" Natsu uttered, blinking as he was taken aback by the question. "My relationship with Lucy?"

The ice mage nodded. "Yeah. Like… maybe what's missing is…" He paused and looked at him, a teasing smirk playing on his lips. "A ring?"

Natsu stared at his comrade blankly, an eyebrow raising. "A ring?"

"Uh, huh," Gray affirmed with a curt nod. "A ring."

"What does a ring have to do with any of this? Are you saying I should buy her a ring?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Natsu took a moment to think about this, perching his lips a little and absently scratching his jaw, something he did when he was confused. "But, does it have to be a ring? Luce doesn't wear rings very often. She does like jewelry, though. Maybe I could get her a necklace instead? Or some new earrings?"

"No, you idiot," Gray spat with a roll of his eyes. "Not just an ordinary ring. I meant an _engagement ring_, jackass."

Too confused to argue with him over calling him both an idiot and a jackass, the Salamander only tilted his head to the side. "An engagement ring?" he echoed, perplexed. "Why would I get her one of those?"

Gray sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to refrain from hitting the stupid out of him. "So you can propose to her with it, moron. Do I gotta spell it out for you?"

Finally understanding, Natsu's entire face went red, his obsidian orbs widening like saucers. "P-Propose?!" he stammered. "Why would I propose?"

"Maybe that's what you feel like's been missing," he replied simply. "If you were 'so happy' like you said you were, but there's still something missing, maybe what's missing is marriage."

"But… but we've only been dating for a couple of months!" he exclaimed. "I can't propose! I'd be moving too fast!"

"Natsu," Gray deadpanned. "You two live together, and you have a baby. I think you're way beyond moving too fast by this point."

Natsu blinked, startled by how true that statement was. He and Lucy have been moving pretty fast already. So maybe proposing wouldn't be totally crazy, but nonetheless, it was still just that: crazy. He couldn't propose to her. Don't get him wrong, he loves her. He loves her more than he thought it could ever be possible. But despite everything that's been going on between him and her lately, he didn't think proposing right now would be that good of an idea.

Though, he had to admit - regardless of how painful it is to admit - Gray was right. Wanting to marry Lucy is a perfectly logical explanation for the weird missing feeling he's been experiencing as of late. Maybe marrying her is what he needs to do, and the weird feeling was his subconscious' way of telling him that it was time for him to grow up, give Kibou the real family he deserves. But what if Lucy didn't feel the same way? What if she doesn't have that feeling? What if she isn't in that place, and when he asks her to marry him, she turns him down? They live and have a baby together, so there wouldn't be any way for them to ignore the awkwardness between them. It could ruin their relationship, and it could also ruin Kibou's chance of having a normal, loving family. He couldn't do that to him, or to Lucy, or to himself.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he screwed up so bad.

"Listen, dragon breath, that ain't gonna happen," Gray sighed, making Natsu realize that everything he'd just been thinking in his head, he'd actually been saying out loud. Which embarrassed him a little. He hadn't realized that he was venting openly to his rival. But, much to his surprise, Gray didn't seem teasing, or annoyed, or like he was planning on blackmailing him later. If anything, he seemed _concerned_, disheartened at hearing everything that he'd previously rambled about. "Lucy loves you. I know that to be a fact. It's obvious in everything she does and says. And you love her just as much, right?"

"Y-yeah," he answered, stunned by Gray's response.

The devil slayer shrugged. "Then the way I see it, there's nothing to worry about. You love her, she loves you, there's no way in Edolas that she'd say no if you proposed to her. I know that for a fact, too." He stood up and stretched. "Well, I figured out why you were acting weird, so my job is over. Now that you've got that sorted out, stop ignoring Lucy, would ya? You're really making her worry that something's wrong. Later." He left without another word, leaving Natsu in his living room, alone with his thoughts.

* * *

_**Later that week…**_

"Natsu-san?" Juvia practically sang as she gave the said fire mage a tap on the shoulder. Natsu looked up from his lunch, blinking when he came face-to-face with Juvia's almost eight months pregnant belly. Lifting his gaze to her face, and instantly taking notice of her cheerful and rather excited expression, he instantly had a hunch that Gray had told her about their conversation the other day. He released a sigh, hoping he was just being paranoid.

"Yeah?" he muttered weakly.

"Gray-sama told Juvia about what the two of you talked about earlier this week," she answered, carefully sitting down in the empty seat beside him. Natsu groaned softly as he felt dread wash over him. He knew it. He fucking knew that Gray blabbed. Damn that stupid ice princess. The next time he got his hands on him, he would get what's coming to him.

"I figured he would," he replied quietly, turning his head toward the bar to make sure that Lucy was still feeding Kibou whilst having a conversation with Mira, Erza, and Levy.

"Juvia wants to help Natsu-san."

The declaration made Natsu blink his eyes a couple of times, turning his attention back to her. "Help me? With what?"

"With ring shopping." She lowered her voice to lower the risk of Lucy possibly hearing their conversation. But the look of excitement never left her face, her navy eyes dancing. "Juvia has a feeling that Natsu-san would want assistance with picking out the perfect ring for Lucy-san."

Natsu stared at the water woman in disbelief. She wanted to help him pick out an engagement ring for Lucy? Why? Juvia's never reached out to him like this before. Was it because she and Lucy were really close ever since she and Gray sealed the deal with their relationship, allowing her to no longer feel threatened by the celestial mage? So she wanted to help him make sure that one of her best friends would be happy? Or did she just not trust him to do a good job at this by himself?

.

..

…

Honestly, he didn't even trust himself to do a good job at this.

He could definitely use the help.

Once again making sure Lucy was somewhere else focused on her own conversation, he hesitantly nodded his head. "Okay," he said. "Having some help would be good."

Juvia instantly brightened, clasping her hands to her chest and squealing with excitement. "Yay! Juvia is delighted Natsu-san wants her help! She will make sure you get the perfect ring for Lucy-sa-" She was cut off by Natsu's hand suddenly covering her mouth, muffling her squeak of surprise. He held his other hand to his mouth, holding his finger against his lips.

"Shh!" he hissed. "Don't say things like that too loud. I don't want Lucy to hear."

"Oh," Juvia uttered once he removed his hand, blushing pink in embarrassment. "Juvia apologizes. She's a little excited."

He scoffed. "A little?"

Juvia blushed deeper, clearing her throat and bracing her hands on the table, carefully standing up and placing a dainty hand on her bloated tummy. She sent him a grin. "Juvia will meet Natsu-san in the marketplace."

"Wait, we're doing this right now?"

She nodded her head. "Mm, hm. Juvia thinks that we should start searching as soon as possible. We can't risk not being able to find the perfect ring, no?"

The fire mage scratched the back of his head. "I guess so."

* * *

**Author's Note: hey, guys! Sorry this chapter's a bit short compared to how the other ones have been. That damned writer's block is persistent.**

**Thank you guys so much for your support and the lovely things you say in your reviews. I love you guys so much. Also, I love when you guys reach out to me. I love connecting with my followers and talking to them. So if you guys have any questions or just want to say hi, don't be afraid to PM me.**

**Don't forget to leave a review! Keep 'em coming.**


	11. Rings

Chapter XI: Rings

* * *

He couldn't believe he was doing this.

Maybe he should just go home?

No, he can't go home and leave Juvia waiting for him in the marketplace for hours.

Should he tell her that he's just not ready to do something like this?

But that's the thing. He didn't think he _wasn't _ready. He shouldn't lie to Juvia either.

Despite all of his thoughts, Natsu found himself continuing his trek into town toward the marketplace where he said he'd meet up with Juvia. He couldn't hide the fact that he was nervous. Think about it, he was on his way to pick out a ring that he could propose to his girlfriend with. Any guy would be nervous, right? He isn't the only one. He can't be the only one. Shit, why is his heart beating so fast? Usually, he was praying for a good adrenaline rush, but right now? Urgh, he just wanted it to go away.

He couldn't stand the constant adrenaline he's been having this passed week, since his talk with Gray. If Lucy had noticed him acting weird before, there's no way on Earthland that she's missed it by now. But instead of being aloof, he was more jumpy and distracted than anything else. He would zone out, daydreaming about asking her to marry him and picturing the results of him doing so, whether they be good or bad. And when she would say something to him, he'd act sketchy and evasive without even meaning to. And just a few minutes ago, he had to lie to her about where he was going when he left the guild. He hated lying, especially to Lucy, and he was so awful at it. And he knew that Lucy was aware of this. She could see right through him whenever he lied. He both loved and hated that about her.

He shook his head, setting his resolve. Once the ring shopping was done and over with, he wasn't going to lie to her anymore. He was stop being so nervous and jumpy and un-Natsu-like. He could no longer stand the hurt look on her face whenever he dismissed her concerns or ignored her when she asked if something was wrong. He couldn't stand being weird around her, or lying to her, or hurting her without meaning to. He was done with that. Nodding curtly as he walked through the marketplace, Natsu froze when he saw Juvia sitting on a bench and reading a book in front of the jewelry shop, suddenly making him realize what he was about to do again.

Gulping down his irrational nervousness, he approached his comrade and croaked out an anxious "hey." The water woman looked up from her book and smiled brightly at the sight of him. "Natsu-san! You came!" she cheered, cautiously trying to stand up and letting out a frustrated groan when she could barely lift herself off the seat. With a small, amused grin, Natsu held out his hand and helped her up once she took it.

"I said I would, didn't I?" he said simply, like it was obvious.

She nodded, her cerulean hair bouncing slightly in her gentle curves as she put her book away into her purse. "Juvia knows, but a part of her thought you would be too scared to come."

Natsu huffed. "I ain't scared."

She giggled. "No, of course not."

"Let's just get this over with," he grumbled, stepping into the jewelry store and holding the door open for her as she followed, giggling softly to herself. Natsu narrowed his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets and sinking his head between his shoulders, making his scarf cover up the lower portion of his face. He scanned his eyes over the counters displaying all different kinds of jewelry, the bright lights and reflections off the metals and gems on said jewelry giving him a minor but noticeable headache. And as soon as he stepped foot into the place, he got looks from staff members and customers alike, and he knew they were all wondering why Natsu Dragneel, of all people, would be in such a fancy, expensive jewelry store.

Even though they lost interest as quickly as they gained it, all the looks made Natsu uncomfortable already. He really hoped that he and Juvia found the right ring soon so they could get this over with. He silently followed behind the water mage as she led him through the shop to the rings section, and as they neared it, she glanced at him from over his shoulder.

"Do you know what kind of ring Lucy-san would like?" she inquired. Natsu took a moment to think about it, his eyes idly roaming along the selection being displayed in the glass counter beside him, just observing rather than searching. What _would _Lucy like? He knew he should stick with the silver instead of gold, because she's told him on several occasions that she didn't like gold on jewelry. But that was the extent of his knowledge.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, scratching the side of his neck. "Lucy doesn't usually wear rings, so it's kinda hard to tell what she likes in one."

"That is true," Juvia confirmed, drumming her fingers against her belly as she searched through the selection. "This may prove to be more difficult than Juvia anticipated." She turned to him. "Surely she's told you about what she likes in jewelry in general, hasn't she?"

"She doesn't like gold."

She hummed, turning back to the selection. "Well, that narrows it down a little."

The Salamander let loose a long sigh, running a hand through his hair and ruffling it a bit as he thought back to conversations he's had with Lucy about jewelry. Lucy's a very particular person, he knew. So she _must_ _have_ told him something that could be of use now. He blinked, a lightbulb metaphorically lighting up above his head.

"She doesn't like clichés," he spoke, drawing Juvia's attention and causing her to tilt her head curiously.

"Clichés?" she echoed. "What about them?"

"She says they're unoriginal and have lost meaning because they're used so often. Like red roses being the default flower that's given to women, or chocolate on Valentine's Day."

"So originality is what we should be looking for," Juvia chimed, brightening up. "What else does she think is a cliché?"

He thought about it for a while, closing his eyes and perching his lips. "Diamonds. She said diamonds are used too much."

"Okay. So we shouldn't be looking in the diamond rings, then." She grabbed his arm and practically dragged him to a different counter, the selection being much more diverse and colorful than it was at the previous counter. They both fell silent as they scanned over for a ring that struck them. Maybe this wasn't so bad, Natsu thought. Once he started thinking about what Lucy likes in general, trying to find a ring that she would like became so much easier, and that alone lifted most of the pressure off of his shoulder. But something still weighed heavily on his back.

"How do I propose?" he blurted out without meaning to. Juvia, surprised by the sudden question, turned to look at him, taken aback when she saw the anxious expression on his face, something she didn't typically see on him. When she didn't reply, he swallowed hard and kept going. "Like what do I say? Everyone knows I'm not good with words. I'm not good with being romantic either. I don't know where or when I should do it either."

Juvia frowned slightly, looking back down at the selection. "Well, Juvia thinks you don't _need_ to know what you're going to say," she said softly. "Because if you prepare what you're going to say, and rehearse it to yourself, it could come out sounding forced and insincere, and women can always tell when something was memorized."

"You can?"

She nodded. "Mm hm. It's obvious. Because when you say something that you memorized and rehearsed, it sounds different from how you talk normally. And Lucy-san likes spontaneity, so don't try to practice what you're going to say beforehand. Let it come out naturally. It'll mean a lot more to the both of you." Natsu stayed silent as he let what she said sink in, nodding his head a few times. _That does make sense,_ he thought. "As for when and where you do it, that _is_ something you should think about and plan. The location needs to have significance. Perhaps where you met each other, or in a location that Lucy-san enjoys."

As soon as those words came out of her mouth, Natsu knew. He knew where he was going to do it. It was _perfect_.

"Thank you," he murmured softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Juvia smiled at him. "Juvia is glad she could be of assistance." Natsu returned the smile before both of them fell into silence once again, resuming their searching for the ring he was going to purchase.

* * *

_**Forty-seven minutes later...**_

"What about this one?" Natsu suggested, pointing to a ring that had a dark red ruby in the middle of the silver band. Juvia followed where he was pointing and observed the ring, before scrunching up her nose and shaking her head.

"No."

Natsu blinked. "No? Why?"

"It's too simple, Natsu-san," she explained. "Lucy-san, as you should know, likes elegance over simplicity." Natsu groaned, rolling his eyes. Juvia's checklist for the ring he should buy Lucy was starting to get a little long, not to mention ridiculous. Beautiful (_she won't appreciate a bland ring, Natsu-san)_, not too expensive (_she won't want you to spend a fortune on her alone, Natsu-san)_, not too cheap (_you can't be a cheapskate, Natsu-san. Loosen the purse-strings),_ original (_remember, Natsu-san, she doesn't like clichés; look for something different and spontaneous)_, and now add "elegant" to the list. Don't get him wrong, he wanted to get Lucy the most perfect ring, because that's what she deserves. But he's starting to get the feeling that Juvia will be picking out the ring instead of him. _Maybe I should just call it quits for now,_ he pondered to himself. _Come back tomorrow by myself._

He frowned a little bit at the suggestion. _It __is_ _nice to have help, though. But we've been here close to an hour. Maybe we should just stop for the day. I don't want Lucy to get worried about where I've gone._ Setting his annoyance with Juvia and her list aside, he shook his head a few times before refocusing on the task at hand. A few more minutes won't hurt, right?

Just as he decided to stay, he saw something that caught his eye. Moving closer to the glass to get a better look at it, he examined the ring and instantly knew it was the one. It perfectly fit Juvia's list. Beautiful, indeed. A flawless silver band with a light blue aquamarine stone in the middle, with two smaller red stones on either side. Lowering his gaze an inch to check the price, he noticed that it wasn't too expensive - compared to other rings in this store - and it wasn't too cheap either. Actually, it was in the perfect price range. The ring was definitely original; he'd never seen another ring like this before, and it certainly didn't look like any other engagement rings. And it was, for sure, elegant. Hell, he knew that it would make Lucy even more elegant than she already is. He may have been uncertain about this whole thing, but he was definitely certain about this.

This was the ring.

"Juvia," he called, waiting for her to approach him before pointing down to the ring. "What about this one?" The rain woman followed his gaze to the ring, blinking when her eyes set upon it. There was a pause of silence, making Natsu expect her to say she didn't like it again. Which wouldn't matter this time. Because regardless what she thought of the ring, he loved it, and he knew Lucy would too. And that's all that mattered. But what took him by surprise was her saying…

"It's beautiful, Natsu-san."

He whipped his head around to face her, his onyx eyes wide with surprise. "What?"

She smiled at him with approval. "It's beautiful. Lucy-san would love it."

He stared at her as he let what she said sink it and process in his brain before giving a curt nod of his head. "I think so too."

She laughed softly. "Juvia will go get an employee, then." She waddled away to do what she said, leaving Natsu behind to keep watch on the ring, not wanting anyone else to swoop in and take it away.

After purchasing the ring, the two fairies left the store, beginning the trek to Gray and Juvia's apartment, Natsu wanting to make sure she got home okay. She mentioned to him while they were looking for a ring that since she's pregnant with twins, there's a greater chance of her going into labor sooner than planned, and considering how big she was right now, Natsu didn't want her to go into labor on the way home and have no one there with her. Gray would've never forgiven him if he'd left her alone before she went into labor.

Speaking of the blue-haired mage, she turned to face Natsu as they walked, grinning as she idly rubbed her bloated tummy. "So how are you going to propose?" she asked curiously, eagerly awaiting the answer and visibly deflating when he responded with…

"I'm not saying."

With a whine and a pout, she said, "why not?"

"'Cause I don't wanna," he answered simply, running his fingers over the small velvet box in his pocket, feeling much more at ease, surprisingly enough. He was expecting to feel more on edge now that it was officially… well, _official._ He was going to propose to Lucy. He knew when and where he was going to do it, and now he had the ring. And he's at ease? That wasn't really how he was expecting to feel by this point, but hey, he wasn't complaining either. Actually being this calm might make it easier to propose to her.

"Just tell Juvia," she pressed. "She wants to know." She gave him the puppy eyes he's seen her give Gray a few times, the ones the made him cave almost instantly. But unlike with Gray, they had no effect on him. Lucy was the only one that could use those eyes on him. Maybe Happy, too.

"Well, that's too bad," he stated flatly. "Because I don't wanna say, and I'm not gonna."

She huffed and folded her arms across her chest - as best she could, anyway - and turned her head away from him. "Fine." Natsu rolled his eyes a little, continuing to finger the box in his pocket, opening it just enough to reach in and give the ring a few idle strokes before closing it once more. He cleared his throat, glancing at her through the corner of his eye.

"Um, thank you, Juvia," he muttered softly. "For coming with me. Who knows how long I would've taken if I didn't have any help."

"Of course, Natsu-san," Juvia chimed, seemingly already over the fact that he wouldn't tell her where he was proposing. "Juvia was happy to help." She looked up when they approached her and Gray's apartment, offering him another smile. "Thank _you_ for walking Juvia home, Natsu-san. You didn't have to."

"I know," he admitted with a nod of his head. "But you're about ready to pop, and I just wanted to make sure you got home okay."

She smiled and patted his shoulder. "Well, thank you. You're very kind." And with that, she turned and went up to the door, unlocked it, and waved goodbye as she stepped inside, closing the door behind her. The dragon slayer waited for the door to close completely before beginning his trek back to his home, hoping Lucy didn't ask too many questions. Even though he was sure he wasn't going to be nervous around her anymore, he still had to keep a few secrets from her, meaning he had to continue to lie to her.

He _really_ didn't like lying.

* * *

Natsu was relieved when he returned home to see Lucy feeding Kibou his dinner, sending him a grin after she glanced at him. "Welcome home," she greeted, turning back to Kibou to resume feeding him. "How was your walk?"

"It was good," he answered, approaching them and leaning down a little to stroke Kibou's hair. "Just what I needed." The blonde didn't say anything in response, only smiling at him instead. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Well, Kibou got to see a family of bunnies today on the way home," she sang, kissing Kibou's forehead.

"He did?" Natsu gasped playfully, kneeling down to look at the child face-to-face. "You got to see some bunnies today?"

The young one grinned and uttered a cute "ah!" in response, making both his parents chuckle with affection. He smiled warmly and placed a soft kiss to the top of his head, turning his attention to the blonde.

"Can I talk to you when you're finished feeding him, babe?" he asked with such a seriousness in his eyes that it made Lucy's heart trill. It wasn't very often she got to see him with that look, and just the look alone made her blush all shades of red, for no reason at all. She hated that even after they've been dating for several months, he still has the ability to make her blush with just a look.

"U-Um, okay," she stammered, avoiding his eyes and focusing hers on Kibou. "Just give me a couple of minutes." He nodded silently, waiting patiently and watching as she fed him, smiling a bit at Kibou's cute little face. He was getting so big so fast, and he hated it. Soon he was gonna be walking, and talking, and learning magic, and wanting to go on jobs with him. He didn't want it to keep going by so fast. Where's Ultear and her time magic when you need her?

Without even noticing, Lucy had finished feeding him and set him down in his playpen to entertain himself with some toys. She sat back down on the couch beside Natsu, looking at him with her big brown eyes and making his heart skip a beat. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked, leaning her head against the back of the couch.

He cleared his throat. "Right," he began, weaving a hand through his hair and absently scratching the back of his head. "Uh, I'm really sorry I've been acting… weird and aloof lately. I never meant to make you feel like I was ignoring you or trying to distance myself from you. It's just…" He released a slow sigh, reaching over and gently grabbing her hand. "A lot has been on my mind lately. And I want to talk to you about it, I really do, because you're _always_ the first person I want to go to when I have something I need to talk about. But… I can't right now. I'm just not in a place at the moment where I can talk to you about this right now, but when I get there, I'll come straight to you, okay?"

Lucy stared at him silently, a little taken aback by how all of this seemed to be coming out of nowhere. This was definitely not what she was expecting him to want to talk about, but she was pretty relieved to finally have an answer to the question she'd been asking herself for awhile now: the reason why he was acting so weird. She turned her hand over in his so she could lace their fingers together, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Natsu," she said quietly, looking into his eyes and holding his gaze. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I want you to feel like you can talk to me about whatever's bothering you."

He nodded. "I know that. I always want to talk to you when something's on my mind. But I can't right now. And I can't tell you why, so you're just going to have to trust me on this. Can you do that? Do you trust me?"

After a long silence, she sighed and nodded, lowering her gaze to their hands. "Of course I trust you, Natsu. I trust you with my life." She lifted her eyes back to him. "Whenever you're ready to talk, I'll be here to listen."

His lips curled into a small smile before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. "Thank you, Luce," he murmured against her lips, pulling away just enough to rest his forehead against hers. "Again, I'm sorry that I've made you feel ignored for the passed couple of weeks. I didn't mean to make you feel that way, or that I didn't want to talk to you."

"It's okay," she assured with a gentle shake of her head, grinning at him as she lifted a dainty hand to his cheek. "I'm just glad you told me why you've been acting that way."

He leaned into her touch, pressing his hand to hers and holding it to his cheek. "I'll try not to let myself get like that again," he promised, rubbing his cheek against her hand like an affectionate kitten, causing her to giggle.

"I love you."

"Love ya too."

They both snapped out of their little "love bubble" - as Mirajane liked to call whenever they got so caught up in each other that everything else in their surroundings seemingly disappeared - when Kibou whined from inside his playpen, annoyed by the two of them being affectionate. Or, rather, being annoyed by Natsu getting attention from his mommy when _he_ was the _only_ one who was allowed attention from her. Both mages laughed lightheartedly, Lucy standing up and walking over to him.

"Aw, you poor jealous attention hog," she cooed, reaching down into the playpen and lifting him up into her arms, holding him close to her chest. "How dare daddy steal away your mommy-love." Kibou huffed and buried his face into her collarbone, making sure that he was looking as far away from Natsu as possible. Natsu only chuckled, watching as Lucy swayed with him, stroking his soft brown hair, smiling that motherly smile she adopted soon after they became his parents. He was still amazed by how natural motherhood was for her, like being a mother was what she was born to do.

Without her noticing, he reached into his pocket and started to absentmindedly stroke the velvet box that resided inside.

* * *

**Author's Note: hey, guys! Sorry about another short chapter. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, which makes it harder for me to be able to concentrate. Hopefully I can kick it soon so I can give you guys a decent chapter with a reasonable length next time.**

**In other news, I am still really torn up by that last chapter. Damn Mashima, ripping apart one of my OTPs. It's been awhile since the manga has made me cry that hard. I hope Gray fucks up that Invel guy next week. And since Mashima has a habit of loopholes when it comes to character deaths, I really hope there's one to this death, because if this is the one that sticks, I'm going to be furious.**

**But anyway, I've always liked the idea of Natsu and Juvia having some sort of friendship, especially when it comes to getting things for Lucy. And this chapter was partially inspired by a lovely piece of fan art entitled "Shopping," created by a DeviantART user named blanania. If you've never seen her art before, check her out! She's very talented! Don't forget to leave a review! Love you guys so much. See you next time.**


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